Two years later Absalom's sheepshearers were in Baal Hazor, near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king's sons.

He appointed him king over Gilead, the Geshurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel.

Then the army marched out to the field to fight against Israel. The battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

That's not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city." The woman said to Joab, "This very minute his head will be thrown over the wall to you!"