At this very moment he is hiding out in one of the caves or in some other similar place. If it should turn out that he attacks our troops first, ¹  whoever hears about it will say, ‘Absalom’s army has been slaughtered!’

All the people throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner ¹  has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! ² 

So Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother, who was lying down. She took the dough, kneaded it, made some cakes while he watched, ¹  and baked them. ² 

He threw stones at David and all of King David’s servants, as well as all the people and the soldiers who were on his right and on his left.

Then David prayed to ¹  God for the child and fasted. ²  He would even ³  go and spend the night lying on the ground.

Then Absalom happened to come across David’s men. Now as Absalom was riding on his ¹  mule, it ²  went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, ³  while the mule he had been riding kept going.

Then Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “Greetings!” ¹  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 ²  the men who opposed ³  my lord the king!”

David was angry because the Lord attacked ¹  Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, ²  which remains its name to this very day.

So Joab went to the king and informed him. The king ¹  summoned Absalom, and he came to the king. Absalom ²  bowed down before the king with his face toward the ground and the king kissed him. ³ 

he ¹  sent his son Joram ²  to King David to extend his best wishes ³  and to pronounce a blessing on him for his victory over Hadadezer, for Toi had been at war with Hadadezer. ⁴  He brought with him various items made of silver, gold, and bronze. ⁵ 

So David asked the Lord what he should do. ¹  This time ²  the Lord ³  said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees. ⁴ 

So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. ¹  She gave birth to a son, and David ²  named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child ³ 

But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!” ¹  But he refused to listen to her.

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. ¹  From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. ² 

Smoke ascended from ¹  his nose; ²  fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ³  he hurled down fiery coals. ⁴ 

When David reached the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite met him with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ¹  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ²  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ³ 

When one ¹  of the men saw this, he reported it to Joab saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.

He delivers me from my enemies; ¹  you snatch me away ²  from those who attack me; ³  you rescue me from violent men.