5 But the king gave this command to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “Be gentle with young Absalom for my sake.” All the soldiers heard as the king gave commands to the various leaders with regard to Absalom.
6 David’s army then took the field against Israel, and a battle was fought in the forest near Mahanaim.
7 The forces of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the casualties there that day were heavy—twenty thousand men.
8 The battle spread out over that entire region, and the forest consumed more combatants that day than did the sword.
9 Absalom unexpectedly came up against David’s servants. He was mounted on a mule, and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large oak tree, his hair caught fast in the tree. He hung between heaven and earth while the mule under him kept going.
10 Someone saw this and reported to Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging from an oak tree.”
11 Joab said to the man who told him this: “If you saw him, why did you not strike him to the ground on the spot? Then it would have been my duty to give you fifty pieces of silver and a belt.”