2 Samuel · 33 verses
2 Samuel 18
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Ahimaaz wins the race to the king, announces “All is well!”, and then discovers that the one question worth answering is the one he cannot.
The forest takes its sharevv. 1–18
David arranges his army in three parts under Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, but remains by the gate when the troops insist that his life is worth ten thousand of theirs. He gives the commanders one tender order concerning Absalom, and then the battle rolls into the Forest Ephraim, where the forest itself proves a more successful killer than the sword. Absalom’s mule carries him beneath an oak, his head catches in the branches, and the mule carries on without him. A soldier refuses Joab’s silver and belt because the king had ordered Absalom protected; Joab answers with three spears, and ten armor-bearers complete the grim business. Absalom is put in a pit beneath stones, while Israel flees home. His pillar in the King’s Valley remains, bearing a name he had hoped would outlive him.
The runners arrivevv. 19–32
Ahimaaz asks to carry the news, is told that today is not a day for good news, and asks again. He runs by the plain, outruns the Cushite, and arrives with admirable speed and incomplete information. David is listening for one thing only. Ahimaaz reports victory, bows, and then retreats behind “a great tumult”; the Cushite arrives with the same victory and supplies the missing answer by describing Absalom without naming him. The messenger has, in a fashion, done precisely what he was sent to do.
The chamber over the gatev. 33
David goes up to the chamber over the gate and weeps. The army’s victory has arrived in the proper form, with runners and horns and official language, but the king hears only the name of his son.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Sam 18:1Then David reviewed his troops and appointed over them commanders of thousands and of hundreds.
2 Sam 18:2He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will surely march out with you as well.”
2 Sam 18:3But the people pleaded, “You must not go out! For if we have to flee, they will not care about us. Even if half of us die, they will not care. But you are worth ten thousand of us. It is better now if you support us from the city.”
2 Sam 18:4“I will do whatever seems best to you,” the king replied. So he stood beside the gate, while all the troops marched out by hundreds and by thousands.
2 Sam 18:5Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, “Treat the young man Absalom gently for my sake.” And all the people heard the king’s orders to each of the commanders regarding Absalom.
2 Sam 18:6So David’s army marched into the field to engage Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.
2 Sam 18:7There the people of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the slaughter was great that day—twenty thousand men.
2 Sam 18:8The battle spread over the whole countryside, and that day the forest devoured more people than the sword.
2 Sam 18:9Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
2 Sam 18:10When one of the men saw this, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree!”
2 Sam 18:11“You just saw him!” Joab exclaimed. “Why did you not strike him to the ground right there? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt!”
2 Sam 18:12The man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels of silver were weighed out into my hands, I would not raise my hand against the son of the king. For we heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’
2 Sam 18:13If I had jeopardized my own life—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have abandoned me.”
2 Sam 18:14But Joab declared, “I am not going to wait like this with you!” And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak tree.
2 Sam 18:15And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.
2 Sam 18:16Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the troops broke off their pursuit of Israel because Joab had restrained them.
2 Sam 18:17They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.
2 Sam 18:18During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.
2 Sam 18:19Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.”
2 Sam 18:20But Joab replied, “You are not the man to take good news today. You may do it another day, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”
2 Sam 18:21So Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed to Joab and took off running.
2 Sam 18:22Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” “My son,” Joab replied, “why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?”
2 Sam 18:23“No matter what, I want to run!” he replied. “Then run!” Joab told him. So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.
2 Sam 18:24Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.
2 Sam 18:25So he called out and told the king. “If he is alone,” the king replied, “he bears good news.” As the first runner drew near,
2 Sam 18:26the watchman saw another man running, and he called out to the gatekeeper, “Look! Another man is running alone!” “This one also brings good news,” said the king.
2 Sam 18:27The watchman said, “The first man appears to me to be running like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” “This is a good man,” said the king. “He comes with good news.”
2 Sam 18:28Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” And he bowed facedown before the king. He continued, “Blessed be the LORD your God! He has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my lord the king.”
2 Sam 18:29The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And Ahimaaz replied, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I do not know what it was.”
2 Sam 18:30“Move aside,” said the king, “and stand here.” So he stepped aside.
2 Sam 18:31Just then the Cushite came and said, “May my lord the king hear the good news: Today the LORD has avenged you of all who rose up against you!”
2 Sam 18:32The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And the Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you to harm you be like that young man.”
2 Sam 18:33The king was shaken and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 170 passages were voted onto 26 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 332 Samuel 19:4But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
- 32 Samuel 21:17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”
- 6Joshua 17:18because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”
- 92 Samuel 14:26And when he cut the hair of his head—he shaved it every year because his hair got so heavy—he would weigh it out to be two hundred shekels, according to the royal standard.
- 17Joshua 7:26And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
- 17Joshua 8:29He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- 192 Samuel 15:36Indeed, their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with everything you hear.”
- 272 Kings 9:20Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the charioteer is driving like Jehu son of Nimshi—he is driving like a madman!”
- 32Judges 5:31So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
- 2Judges 7:16And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.
- 6Joshua 17:15Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”
- 8Exodus 15:10But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
- 132 Samuel 14:19–20So the king asked, “Is the hand of Joab behind all this?” The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything that my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave me orders; he told your maidservant exactly what to say.
- 162 Samuel 2:28So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight.
- 162 Samuel 20:22Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
- 18Genesis 14:17After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
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