14. Joab said, "I won’t waste time like this with you!" He took three sticks in his hand and drove them into Absalom’s chest while he was still alive in the oak.
15. Then ten young armor-bearers of Joab surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.
16. Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped chasing the Israelites, because Joab held them back.
17. They took Absalom and threw him into a big pit in the forest. They piled over him a huge heap of stones. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.
18. When he was alive, Absalom had raised a large pillar for himself in the King’s Valley because he said, "I have no son to carry on the memory of my name." He named the pillar after himself. It is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
19. Then Zadok’s son Ahimaaz said, "Please let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him against his enemies’ power."
20. Joab said to him, "You aren’t the one to bring the news today. You can bring news on another day, but not today, because the king’s son is dead."
21. Then Joab said to a Cushite, "Go tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed low before Joab, then ran off.
22. But Zadok’s son Ahimaaz again said to Joab, "I don’t care what happens, just let me run after the Cushite too.""Why do you want to go, son?" Joab asked. "You’ll get no reward for going."
23. "I don’t care what happens, I want to go," Ahimaaz said.So Joab said to him, "Run off then!"Ahimaaz ran off, going by way of the plain, and passed the Cushite.
24. Now David was sitting between the two gates. The watchman on duty went up on the roof of the gate by the wall. He looked out and saw a man running alone.