18:8. And the battle there was scattered over the face of all the country, and there were many more of the people whom the forest consumed, than whom the sword devoured that day. Consumed... Viz., by pits and precipices. 18:9. And it happened that Absalom met the servants of David, riding on a mule: and as the mule went under a thick and large oak, his head stuck in the oak: and while he hung between the heaven and the earth, the mule on which he rode passed on. 18:10. And one saw this and told Joab, saying: I saw Absalom hanging upon an oak. 18:11. And Joab said to the man that told him: If thou sawest him, why didst thou not stab him to the ground, and I would have given thee ten sicles of silver, and a belt? 18:12. And he said to Joab: If thou wouldst have paid down in my hands a thousand pieces of silver, I would not lay my hands upon the king's son for in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. 18:13. Yea and if I should have acted boldly against my own life, this could not have been hid from the king, and wouldst thou have stood by me? 18:14. And Joab said: Not as thou wilt, but I will set upon him in thy sight. So he took three lances in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom: and whilst he yet panted for life, sticking on the oak, 18:15. Ten young men, armourbearers of Joab, ran up, and striking him slew him. 18:16. And Joab sounded the trumpet, and kept back the people from pursuing after Israel in their flight, being willing to spare the multitude. 18:17. And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and they laid an exceeding great heap of stones upon him: but all Israel fled to their own dwellings. 18:18. Now Absalom had reared up for himself, in his lifetime, a pillar, which is in the king's valley: for he said: I have no son, and this shall be the monument of my name. And he called the pillar by his own name, and it is called the hand of Absalom, to this day. No son... The sons mentioned above, chap. 14.27, were dead when this pillar was erected: unless we suppose he raised this pillar before they were born. 18:19. And Achimaas the son of Sadoc said: I will run and tell the king, that the Lord hath done judgment for him from the hand of his enemies. 18:20. And Joab said to him: Thou shalt not be the messenger this day, but shalt bear tidings another day: this day I will not have thee bear tidings, because the king's son is dead. 18:21. And Joab said to Chusai: Go, and tell the king what thou hast seen. Chusai bowed down to Joab, and ran. 18:22. Then Achimaas the son of Sadoc said to Joab again: Why might not I also run after Chusai? And Joab said to him: Why wilt thou run, my son? thou wilt not be the bearer of good tidings. 18:23. He answered: But what if I run? And he said to him: Run. Then Achimaas running by a nearer way passed Chusai.