6. So the troops went out to the country to fight Israel in the forest of Ephraim.
7. There David’s men defeated Israel’s army, and the massacre was sizable that day—20,000 men.
8. The fighting spread over the whole country. That day the woods devoured more people than the battle.
9. Absalom happened to come face to face with some of David’s men. He was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the tangled branches of a large tree. Absalom’s head became caught in the tree. So he was left hanging in midair when the mule that was under him ran away.
10. A man who saw this told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in a tree.”
11. “What! You saw that!” Joab said to the man who told him. “Why didn’t you strike him to the ground? Then I would have felt obligated to give you four ounces of silver and a belt.”