Then David called one of the soldiers<n id="1" /> and said, &#8220;Come here and strike him down!&#8221; So he struck him down, and he died.

Abner said to Joab, &#8220;Let the soldiers get up and fight<n id="1" /> before us.&#8221; Joab said, &#8220;So be it!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Then ten soldiers who were Joab&#8217;s armor bearers struck Absalom and finished him off.p>

The king asked the Cushite, &#8220;How is the young man Absalom?&#8221; The Cushite replied, &#8220;May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you<n id="1" /> be like that young man!&#8221;p>

David said to the young man<n id="1" /> who was telling him this, &#8220;How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?&#8221;<n id="2" />

The young man who was telling him this<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;I just happened to be on Mount Gilboa and came across Saul leaning on his spear for support. The chariots and leaders of the horsemen were in hot pursuit of him.

<p class="bodytext">David said to the young man who told this to him, &#8220;Where are you from?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;I am an Amalekite, the son of a resident foreigner.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul&#8217;s attendant, and said to him, &#8220;Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master&#8217;s grandson.

Then David prayed to<n id="1" /> God for the child and fasted.<n id="2" /> He would even<n id="3" /> go and spend the night lying on the ground.

He called his personal attendant and said to him, &#8220;Take this woman out of my sight<n id="1" /> and lock the door behind her!&#8221;

So Absalom&#8217;s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had instructed. Then all the king&#8217;s sons got up; each one rode away on his mule and fled.p>

<p class="bodytext">In the meantime Absalom fled. When the servant who was the watchman looked up, he saw many people coming from the west<n id="1" /> on a road beside the hill.

<p class="bodytext">Then the king said to Joab, &#8220;All right! I<n id="1" /> will do this thing! Go and bring back the young man Absalom!

But a young man saw them on one occasion and informed Absalom. So the two of them quickly departed and went to the house of a man in Bahurim. There was a well in his courtyard, and they got down in it.

<p class="bodytext">One of Joab&#8217;s soldiers who stood over Amasa said, &#8220;Whoever is for<n id="1" /> Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!&#8221;

Abner said to him, &#8220;Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers<n id="1" /> and take his equipment for yourself!&#8221; But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

<p class="bodytext">So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them<n id="1" /> near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth<n id="2" /> and buried it in the tomb of Abner<n id="3" /> in Hebron.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Absalom instructed his servants, &#8220;Look! When Amnon is drunk<n id="1" /> and I say to you, &#8216;Strike Amnon down,&#8217; kill him then and there. Don&#8217;t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!&#8221;<n id="2" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">When David had gone a short way beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a couple of donkeys that were saddled, and on them were two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred raisin cakes, a hundred baskets of summer fruit,<n id="1" /> and a container of wine.p>

<p class="bodytext">The king asked Ziba, &#8220;Why did you bring these things?&#8221;<n id="1" /> Ziba replied, &#8220;The donkeys are for the king&#8217;s family to ride on, the loaves of bread<n id="2" /> and the summer fruit are for the attendants to eat, and the wine is for those who get exhausted in the desert.&#8221;<n id="3" />