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 forest of Ephraim,
7 where the people of Israel were slain before the slaves 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 land, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9 And Absalom met the slaves 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, saying, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak.
11 And Joab replied unto the man that told him, Behold, when thou didst see him, why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? I would have given thee ten shekels of silver and a girdle.