Yet another battle occurred in Gath. On that occasion there was a large man ¹  who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha.

David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities ¹  of Hebron.

He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ¹  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ²  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ³ 

As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together. ¹  So that place is called the Field of Flints; ²  it is in Gibeon.

So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, ¹  and then sent them away.

So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had instructed. Then all the king’s sons got up; each one rode away on his mule and fled.

Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab ¹  blew the trumpet, and his men ²  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ³  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

So they got up and crossed over by number: twelve belonging to Benjamin and to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.

Your servant ¹  has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

Now the battle was very severe that day; Abner and the men of Israel were overcome by David’s soldiers. ¹ 

Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit ¹  of their brothers!”

Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David also went out and confronted them at the pool of Gibeon. One group stationed themselves on one side of the pool, and the other group on the other side of the pool.

Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

When he would shave his head – at the end of every year he used to shave his head, for it grew too long ¹  and he would shave it – he used to weigh the hair of his head at three pounds ²  according to the king’s weight.

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.

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. ¹ 

So the king got up and sat at the city gate. When all the people were informed that the king was sitting at the city gate, they ¹  all came before him.But the Israelite soldiers ²  had all fled to their own homes. ³ 

As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up.

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.

Then David went to his palace ¹  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ²  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ³  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.