10:018:010 And a certain man saw it, and told Joab,
and said, Behold, I
saw
Absalom hanged in an oak.
10:018:011 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.
10:018:012 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.
10:018:013 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.
10:018:014 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.
10:018:015 And ten young men that bare Joab’s
armour compassed about and
smote
Absalom, and slew him.
10:018:016 And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people
returned from
pursuing
after Israel: for Joab held back the people.
10:018:017 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.
10:018:018 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.
10:018:019 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.
10:018:020 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.
10:018:021 Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king
what thou hast seen.
And
Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.
10:018:022 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?
10:018:023 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.


