New International Reader's Version

2 Samuel 18:14-18 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

14. Joab said, "I'm not going to waste any more time on you." So he got three javelins. Then he went over and drove them into Absalom's heart. He did it while Absalom was still hanging there alive in the oak tree.

15. Ten of the men who were carrying Joab's armor surrounded Absalom. They struck him down and killed him.

16. Then Joab blew his trumpet. He ordered his troops to stop chasing Israel's army.

17. Joab's men threw Absalom's body into a big pit in the forest. They covered his body with a large pile of rocks. While all of that was going on, all of the Israelites ran back to their homes.

18. Earlier in his life Absalom had set up a pillar in the King's Valley. He had put it up as a monument to himself. He thought, "I don't have a son to carry on the memory of my name." So he named the pillar after himself. It is still called Absalom's Monument to this very day.