So Joab sent {messengers} to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. Joab said to this wise woman, “Please pretend to be very sad. Put on clothes of sadness. Don’t dress up. Act like a woman who has been crying many days for someone that died.
{Then the king knew Absalom was dead}. The king was very upset. He went up to the room over the gate and cried. He kept crying again and again as he walked to that room. He was saying, “O my son Absalom, my son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you. O Absalom, my son, my son!”
{David’s army} had won the battle that day. But the joy of victory had turned to sadness for all the people. It was a very sad day because the people heard, “The king is very sad for his son.”