⁸ Then the king got up and took his seat near the town-door. And word was given to all the people that the king was in the public place: and all the people came before the king. Now all the men of Israel had gone back in flight to their tents.

²⁴ Now David was seated between the two town doors; and the watchman went up to the roof of the doorways, on the wall, and, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running by himself.

⁴ And the king said to them, I will do whatever seems best to you. So the king took his place by the door of the town, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.

² And Absalom got up early, morning after morning, and took his place at the side of the public meeting-place: and when any man had a cause which had to come to the king to be judged, then Absalom, crying out to him, said, What is your town? and he would say, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.

⁶ So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the fight took place in the woods of Ephraim.

⁷ And the people of Israel were overcome there by the servants of David, and there was a great destruction that day, and twenty thousand men were put to the sword.

⁸ And the fighting went on over all the face of the country: and the woods were responsible for more deaths than the sword.

¹⁷ And they took Absalom's body and put it into a great hole in the wood, and put a great mass of stones over it: and every man of Israel went in flight to his tent.

³ And the people made their way back to the town quietly and secretly, as those who are shamed go secretly when they go in flight from the war.

³⁶ And about sundown a cry went up from all parts of the army, saying, Let every man go back to his town and his country, for the king is dead.

¹² And Judah was overcome before Israel, so that they went in flight, every man to his tent.