2Sa 18:14-32 | ESV | STEP | Joab said , I will not waste time like this with you . And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak .

q[See ver. 29 above]

2 Samuel 18:14-32

14 Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. 15 And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.

16 Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops came back from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained them. 17 And they took Absalom and threw him into a great pit in the forest and raised over him ^aa very great heap of stones. And all Israel ^bfled every one to his own home. 18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself ^cthe pillar that is in ^dthe King’s Valley, for he said, ^e“I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s monument ^{▼▼Or Absalom’s hand} to this day.

David Hears of Absalom’s Death

19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, ^g“Let me run and carry news to the king that ^hthe Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.” 20 And Joab said to him, “You are not to carry news today. You may carry news another day, but today you shall carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” 21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed before Joab, and ran. 22 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “Come what may, let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, seeing that you will have no reward for the news?” 23 “Come what may,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of ⁱthe plain, and outran the Cushite.

24 Now David ^jwas sitting between the two gates, and ^kthe watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when he lifted up his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” And he drew nearer and nearer. 26 The watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the gate and said, “See, another man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” 27 The watchman said, “I think the running of the first is ^llike the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, ^m“He is a good man and comes with good news.”

28 Then Ahimaaz cried out to the king, “All is well.” And he bowed before the king with his face to the earth and said, ⁿ“Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king.” 29 And the king said, ^o“Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, your servant, I saw a great commotion, but I do not know what it was.” 30 And the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

David’s Grief

31 And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For ^pthe Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.” 32 The king said to the Cushite, ^q“Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, ^r“May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.”