⁹ Now Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a massive tree, and his ^[a]head was caught in [the thick branches of] the tree; and he was left hanging [in midair] between heaven and earth, while the mule that had been under him kept going. ¹⁰ A certain man saw it and informed Joab, saying, “I saw Absalom hanging in a tree.” ¹¹ Joab said to the man who informed him, “You saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? ^[b]I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” ¹² The man told Joab, “Even if I were to feel the weight of a thousand pieces of silver in my hands, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son; for ^[c]we all heard the king command you, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, ‘Protect the young man Absalom, for my sake.’ ¹³ Otherwise, if I had acted treacherously against his life (for nothing is hidden from the king) you yourself would have ^[d]taken sides against me.” ¹⁴ Joab said, “I will not waste time with you.” So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive [and caught] in the midst of the tree. ¹⁵ And ten young men, Joab’s armor bearers, surrounded and struck Absalom and killed him.

¹⁶ Then Joab blew the trumpet [to signal the end of the combat], and the men returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab held them back. ¹⁷ They took [down the body of] Absalom and threw him into a deep pit in the forest and set up a huge mound of stones over him. Then all Israel fled, everyone to his own tent. ¹⁸ Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself a memorial pillar which is in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have ^[e]no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He named the memorial pillar after himself, and to this day it is called ^[f]Absalom’s Monument.