14. Joab replied, “I will not waste time with you in this way.” And taking three pikes in hand, he thrust for the heart of Absalom. He was still alive in the tree.
15. When ten of Joab’s young armor-bearers closed in on Absalom, and killed him with further blows,
16. Joab then sounded the horn, and the soldiers turned back from the pursuit of the Israelites, because Joab called them to halt.
17. They took Absalom and cast him into a deep pit in the forest, and built up a very large mound of stones over him. And all the Israelites fled to their own tents.
18. During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and set it up for himself in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to perpetuate my name.” The pillar which he named for himself is called Absalom’s Monument to the present day.
19. Then Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, said, “Let me run to take the good news to the king that the Lord has set him free from the power of his enemies.”