¹⁷ They took Absalom, threw him into a large pit in the forest, and stacked a huge pile of stones over him. In the meantime all the Israelite soldiers fled to their homes.^[a]

¹⁸ Before this^[a] Absalom^[b] had set up a monument^[c] and dedicated it to himself in the King’s Valley, reasoning, “I have no son who will carry on my name.” He named the monument after himself, and to this day it is known as Absalom’s Memorial.