And it happened that Absalom met the servants of David, riding on a mule: and as the mule went under a thick and large oak, his head stuck in the oak: and while he hung between the heaven and the earth, the mule on which he rode passed on. And one saw this and told Joab, saying: I saw Absalom hanging upon an oak. And Joab said to the man that told him: If thou sawest him, why didst thou not stab him to the ground, and I would have given thee ten sicles of silver, and belt? And he said to Joab: If thou wouldst have paid down in my hands a thousand pieces of silver, I would not lay my hands upon the king' s son: for in our hearing he king charged thee, and Abisai, and Ethai, saying: Save me the boy Absalom. Yea and if I should have acted boldly against my own life, this could not have been hid from the king, and wouldst thou have stood by me? And Joab said: Not as thou wilt, but will set upon him in thy sight. So he took three lances in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom: and whilst he yet panted for life, sticking on the oak.
II Samuel 18:9-14
