2 Samuel 17:24-2 Samuel 18:8 - War Between David And Absalom

²⁴ Now David had come to Mahanaim, and Absalom had crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵ Absalom had appointed Amasa in place of Joab over the army. Now Amasa [was] the son of a man whose name [was] Ithra the Israelite, {who had married} Abigail the daughter of Nahash the sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab. ²⁶ Israel and Absalom camped [in] the land of Gilead. ²⁷ Just as David had arrived in Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim ²⁸ brought beds and basins and objects of pottery, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, ²⁹ honey, curds, sheep, cheese, and cattle for David and for the people who [were] with him to eat. For they had thought, "The troops [are] hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness."

¹ Then David mustered the people who [were] with him, and he appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. ² David sent forth a third of the troops {under the command of Joab}, and a third {under the command of Abishai}, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the remaining third {under the command of Ittai} the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, "I, even I, {will certainly go out} with you."

³ Then the troops said, "You will not go out, for {if we must flee}, then {they will not care about us}; even if half of us die, {they will not care about us}, but now, you [are] like ten thousand of us. And so then, [it is] better for us that you be in the city to help."

⁴ The king said to them, "I will do what seems good in your eyes." So the king stood at the side of the gate [while] all of the troops went out by hundreds and by thousands. ⁵ The king ordered Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, "With respect to the young man Absalom, [deal] gently for me." And all the troops heard when the king ordered all of the commanders concerning the matter of Absalom.

⁶ The army went out to the field to meet Israel, and the battle was [fought] in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷ The army of Israel [was] defeated there before the servants of David, and the defeat there was great on that day: twenty thousand. ⁸ The battle there was spreading over the surface of all the land, and {the forest devoured more among the army than} the sword [did] on that day.