King James Version › 2 Samuel › 18

2 Samuel

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• 18
• 19
• 20
• 21
• 22
• 23
• 24

1 And David num­bered the peo­ple that were with him, and set cap­tains of thou­sands and cap­tains of hun­dreds over them. 2 And David sent forth a third part of the peo­ple un­der the hand of Joab, and a third part un­der the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's broth­er, and a third part un­der the hand of It­tai the Git­tite. And the king said unto the peo­ple, I will sure­ly go forth with you my­self al­so. 3 But the peo­ple an­swered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; nei­ther if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thou­sand of us: there­fore now it is bet­ter that thou suc­cour us out of the city. 4 And the king said unto them, What seemeth you best I will do. And the king stood by the gate side, and all the peo­ple came out by hun­dreds and by thou­sands. 5 And the king com­mand­ed Joab and Abishai and It­tai, say­ing, Deal gen­tly for my sake with the young man, even with Ab­sa­lom. And all the peo­ple heard when the king gave all the cap­tains charge con­cern­ing Ab­sa­lom. 6 So the peo­ple went out into the field against Is­rael: and the bat­tle was in the wood of Ephraim; 7 Where the peo­ple of Is­rael were slain be­fore the ser­vants of David, and there was there a great slaugh­ter that day of twen­ty thou­sand men. 8 For the bat­tle was there scat­tered over the face of all the coun­try: and the wood de­voured more peo­ple that day than the sword de­voured. 9 And Ab­sa­lom met the ser­vants of David. And Ab­sa­lom rode upon a mule, and the mule went un­der the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was tak­en up be­tween the heav­en and the earth; and the mule that was un­der him went away. 10 And a cer­tain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Be­hold, I saw Ab­sa­lom hanged in an oak. 11 And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, be­hold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have giv­en thee ten shekels of sil­ver, and a gir­dle. 12 And the man said unto Joab, Though I should re­ceive a thou­sand shekels of sil­ver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son: for in our hear­ing the king charged thee and Abishai and It­tai, say­ing, Be­ware that none touch the young man Ab­sa­lom. 13 Oth­er­wise I should have wrought false­hood against mine own life: for there is no mat­ter hid from the king, and thou thy­self wouldest have set thy­self against me. 14 Then said Joab, I may not tar­ry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Ab­sa­lom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. 15 And ten young men that bare Joab's ar­mour com­passed about and smote Ab­sa­lom, and slew him. 16 And Joab blew the trum­pet, and the peo­ple re­turned from pur­su­ing af­ter Is­rael: for Joab held back the peo­ple. 17 And they took Ab­sa­lom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Is­rael fled ev­ery one to his tent. 18 Now Ab­sa­lom in his life­time had tak­en and reared up for him­self a pil­lar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in re­mem­brance: and he called the pil­lar af­ter his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place. 19 Then said Ahi­maaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tid­ings, how that the LORD hath avenged him of his en­e­mies. 20 And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tid­ings this day, but thou shalt bear tid­ings an­oth­er day: but this day thou shalt bear no tid­ings, be­cause the king's son is dead. 21 Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed him­self unto Joab, and ran. 22 Then said Ahi­maaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab, But how­so­ev­er, let me, I pray thee, also run af­ter Cushi. And Joab said, Where­fore wilt thou run, my son, see­ing that thou hast no tid­ings ready? 23 But how­so­ev­er, ­said he, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahi­maaz ran by the way of the plain, and over­ran Cushi. 24 And David sat be­tween the two gates: and the watch­man went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lift­ed up his eyes, and looked, and be­hold a man run­ning alone. 25 And the watch­man cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tid­ings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. 26 And the watch­man saw an­oth­er man run­ning: and the watch­man called unto the porter, and said, Be­hold another man run­ning alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tid­ings. 27 And the watch­man said, Me thin­keth the run­ning of the fore­most is like the run­ning of Ahi­maaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tid­ings. 28 And Ahi­maaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face be­fore the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD thy God, which hath de­liv­ered up the men that lift­ed up their hand against my lord the king. 29 And the king said, Is the young man Ab­sa­lom safe? And Ahi­maaz an­swered, When Joab sent the king's ser­vant, and me thy ser­vant, I saw a great tu­mult, but I knew not what it was. 30 And the king said un­to him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still. 31 And, be­hold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tid­ings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. 32 And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Ab­sa­lom safe? And Cushi an­swered, The en­e­mies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. 33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the cham­ber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Ab­sa­lom, my son, my son Ab­sa­lom! would God I had died for thee, O Ab­sa­lom, my son, my son!