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2 Samuel 18
New English Translation

The Death of Absalom

18 David assembled the army that was with him. He appointed leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds. 2 David then sent out the army—a third under the leadership of Joab, a third under the leadership of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under the leadership of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the troops, “I too will indeed march out with you.”

3 But the soldiers replied,[a] “You should not do this![b] For if we should have to make a rapid retreat, they won’t be concerned about us.[c] Even if half of us should die, they won’t be concerned. But you[d] are like 10,000 of us! So it is better if you remain in the city for support.” 4 Then the king said to them, “I will do whatever seems best to you.”

So the king stayed beside the city gate, while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands. 5 The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” Now the entire army was listening when the king gave all the leaders this order concerning Absalom.

6 Then the army marched out to the field to fight against Israel. The battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 The army of Israel was defeated there by David’s men.[e] The slaughter there was great that day—20,000 soldiers were killed. 8 The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.

9 Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his[f] mule, it[g] went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair,[h] while the mule he had been riding kept going.

10 When one[i] of the men saw this, he reported it to Joab saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.” 11 Joab replied to the man who was telling him this, “What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot?[j] I would have given you ten pieces of silver[k] and a commemorative belt!”[l]

12 The man replied to Joab, “Even if[m] I were receiving[n] 1,000 pieces of silver,[o] I would not strike[p] the king’s son! In our very presence[q] the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’[r] 13 If I had acted at risk of my own life[s]—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have abandoned me.”[t]

14 Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree.[u] 15 Then ten soldiers who were Joab’s armor-bearers struck Absalom and finished him off.

16 Then Joab blew the trumpet[v] and the army turned back from chasing Israel, for Joab had called for the army to halt. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes.[w]

18 Before this[x] Absalom[y] had set up a monument[z] and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning, “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.

David Learns of Absalom’s Death

19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and give the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him before his enemies.”[aa] 20 But Joab said to him, “You will not be a bearer of good news today. You will bear good news some other day, but not today,[ab] for the king’s son is dead.”

21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” After bowing to Joab, the Cushite ran off. 22 Ahimaaz the son of Zadok again spoke to Joab, “Whatever happens, let me go after the Cushite.” But Joab said, “Why is it that you want to go, my son? You have no good news that will bring you a reward.” 23 But he said,[ac] “Whatever happens, I want to go!” So Joab[ad] said to him, “Then go!” So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Jordan plain, and he passed the Cushite.

24 Now David was sitting between the inner and outer gates,[ae] and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate at the wall. When he looked, he saw a man running by himself. 25 So the watchman called out and informed the king. The king said, “If he is by himself, he brings good news.”[af] The runner[ag] came ever closer.

26 Then the watchman saw another man running. The watchman called out to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running by himself.” The king said, “This one also is bringing good news.” 27 The watchman said, “It appears to me that the first runner is Ahimaaz[ah] son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and he comes with good news.”

28 Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!”[ai] He bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and said, “May the Lord your God be praised because he has defeated[aj] the men who opposed[ak] my lord the king!”

29 The king replied, “How is the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz replied, “I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was all about.” 30 The king said, “Turn aside and take your place here.” So he turned aside and waited.

31 Then the Cushite arrived and said,[al] “May my lord the king now receive the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today and delivered you from the hand of all who have rebelled against you!”[am] 32 The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you[an] be like that young man!”

33 (19:1)[ao] The king then became very upset. He went up to the upper room over the gate and wept. As he went he said, “My son, Absalom! My son, my son,[ap] Absalom! If only I could have died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!”[aq]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 18:3 tn Heb “the people said.”
  2. 2 Samuel 18:3 tn Heb “march out.”
  3. 2 Samuel 18:3 tn Heb “they will not place to us heart.”
  4. 2 Samuel 18:3 tc The translation follows the LXX (except for the Lucianic recension), Symmachus, and Vulgate in reading אָתָּה (ʾattah, “you”) rather than MT עָתָּה (ʿattah, “now”).
  5. 2 Samuel 18:7 tn Heb “servants” (also in v. 9).
  6. 2 Samuel 18:9 tn Heb “the.”
  7. 2 Samuel 18:9 tn Heb “the donkey.”
  8. 2 Samuel 18:9 tn Heb “between the sky and the ground.”
  9. 2 Samuel 18:10 tc 4QSama lacks the word “one.”
  10. 2 Samuel 18:11 tn Heb “Why did you not strike him down there to the ground.”
  11. 2 Samuel 18:11 tn Heb “ten [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 4 ounces (114 grams) of silver by weight.
  12. 2 Samuel 18:11 tn Heb “and a girdle” (so KJV); NIV “a warrior’s belt”; CEV “a special belt”; NLT “a hero’s belt.”
  13. 2 Samuel 18:12 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading וְלוּ (velu, “and if”) rather than MT וְלֹא (velo’, “and not”).
  14. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “weighing out in my hand.”
  15. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “a thousand [shekels] of silver.” This would have been about 25 pounds (11.4 kg) of silver by weight.
  16. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “extend my hand against.”
  17. 2 Samuel 18:12 tn Heb “in our ears.”
  18. 2 Samuel 18:12 tc The Hebrew text is very difficult here. The MT reads מִי (mi, “who”), apparently yielding the following sense: “Show care, whoever you might be, for the youth Absalom.” The Syriac Peshitta reads li (“for me”), the Hebrew counterpart of which may also lie behind the LXX rendering μοι (moi, “for me”). This reading seems preferable here, since it restores sense to the passage and most easily explains the rise of the variant.
  19. 2 Samuel 18:13 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and a number of the ancient versions in reading בְנַפְשִׁי (venafshi, “against my life”) rather than the MT בְנַפְשׁוֹ (venafsho, “against his life”).
  20. 2 Samuel 18:13 tn Heb “stood aloof.”
  21. 2 Samuel 18:14 tn There is a play on the word “heart” here that is difficult to reproduce in English. Literally the Hebrew text says “he took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the heart of the oak tree.” This figure of speech involves the use of the same word in different senses and is known as antanaclasis. It is illustrated in the familiar saying from the time of the American Revolution: “If we don’t hang together, we will all hang separately.” The present translation understands “heart” to be used somewhat figuratively for “chest” (cf. TEV, CEV), which explains why Joab’s armor-bearers could still “kill” Absalom after he had been stabbed with three spears through the “heart.” Since trees do not have “chests” either, the translation uses “middle.”
  22. 2 Samuel 18:16 tn Heb “the shofar” (the ram’s horn trumpet).
  23. 2 Samuel 18:17 tn Heb “and all Israel fled, each to his tent.” In this context this refers to the supporters of Absalom (see vv. 6-7, 16).
  24. 2 Samuel 18:18 tn Heb “and in his life.”
  25. 2 Samuel 18:18 tn This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) describes an occurrence that preceded the events just narrated.
  26. 2 Samuel 18:18 tn Heb “a pillar.”
  27. 2 Samuel 18:19 tn Heb “that the Lord has vindicated him from the hand of his enemies.”
  28. 2 Samuel 18:20 tn Heb “but this day you will not bear good news.”
  29. 2 Samuel 18:23 tn The words “but he said” are not in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  30. 2 Samuel 18:23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  31. 2 Samuel 18:24 tn Heb “the two gates.”
  32. 2 Samuel 18:25 tn Heb “good news is in his mouth.”
  33. 2 Samuel 18:25 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the runner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  34. 2 Samuel 18:27 tn Heb “I am seeing the running of the first one like the running of Ahimaaz.”
  35. 2 Samuel 18:28 tn Heb “Peace.”
  36. 2 Samuel 18:28 tn Heb “delivered over.”
  37. 2 Samuel 18:28 tn Heb “lifted their hand against.”
  38. 2 Samuel 18:31 tn Heb “And look, the Cushite came and the Cushite said.”
  39. 2 Samuel 18:31 tn Heb “for the Lord has vindicated you today from the hand of all those rising against you.”
  40. 2 Samuel 18:32 tn Heb “and all those rising against you for evil.”
  41. 2 Samuel 18:33 sn This marks the beginning of ch. 19 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 18:33, the verse numbers through 19:43 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 18:33 ET = 19:1 HT, 19:1 ET = 19:2 HT, 19:2 ET = 19:3 HT, etc., through 19:43 ET = 19:44 HT. From 20:1 the versification in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible is again the same.
  42. 2 Samuel 18:33 tc One medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of the LXX, and the Vulgate lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.
  43. 2 Samuel 18:33 tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Syriac Peshitta lack this repeated occurrence of “my son” due to haplography.
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2 Samuel 18
New International Version

18 David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 David sent out his troops,(A) a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai(B) son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai(C) the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.”

3 But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten(D) thousand of us.[a] It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”(E)

4 The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.”

So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.

6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest(F) of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair(G) got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”

11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike(H) him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels[b] of silver and a warrior’s belt.(I)”

12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels[c] were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.[d]’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy[e]—and nothing is hidden from the king(J)—you would have kept your distance from me.”

14 Joab(K) said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.(L)

16 Then Joab(M) sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up(N) a large heap of rocks(O) over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.

18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley(P) as a monument(Q) to himself, for he thought, “I have no son(R) to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.

David Mourns

19 Now Ahimaaz(S) son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.(T)”

20 “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”

21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.

22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.”

But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”

23 He said, “Come what may, I want to run.”

So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain[f] and outran the Cushite.

24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman(U) went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it.

The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer.

26 Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!”

The king said, “He must be bringing good news,(V) too.”

27 The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs like(W) Ahimaaz son of Zadok.”

“He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”

28 Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”

29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”

30 The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.

31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”(X)

33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died(Y) instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”[g](Z)

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 18:3 Two Hebrew manuscripts, some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts care; for now there are ten thousand like us
  2. 2 Samuel 18:11 That is, about 4 ounces or about 115 grams
  3. 2 Samuel 18:12 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms
  4. 2 Samuel 18:12 A few Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts may be translated Absalom, whoever you may be.
  5. 2 Samuel 18:13 Or Otherwise, if I had acted treacherously toward him
  6. 2 Samuel 18:23 That is, the plain of the Jordan
  7. 2 Samuel 18:33 In Hebrew texts this verse (18:33) is numbered 19:1.
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