5 And the sovereign ordered Yo’aḇ, and Aḇishai and Ittai, saying, “Be gentle with the young man Aḇshalom for my sake.” And all the people heard when the sovereign gave all the commanders orders concerning Aḇshalom.
6 So the people went out into the field to meet Yisra’ĕl. And the battle was in the forest of Ephrayim,
7 and the people of Yisra’ĕl were smitten there before the servants of Dawiḏ. And the slaughter there that day was great – twenty thousand.
8 And the battle there was scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
9 And when Aḇshalom met the servants of Dawiḏ, Aḇshalom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth. And he was suspended between the heavens and earth while the mule which was under him passed on.
10 And a certain man saw it and informed Yo’aḇ, and said, “Look, I saw Aḇshalom hanging in a terebinth tree!”
11 And Yo’aḇ said to the man who informed him, “Now look, you saw, and why did you not smite him to the earth there? Then I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.”