Then David said to all his officials who were with him at Jerusalem, “Get up! Let us flee, or there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Hurry, or he will soon overtake us, and bring disaster down upon us, and attack the city with the edge of the sword.”
Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak.
King David sent this message to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house? The talk of all Israel has come to the king.
All the people were disputing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land because of Absalom.
They made kings but not through me; they set up princes but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
They said, “Come, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, but enter in and possess the land.