2 Samuel 18:4-13

4And the king said to them, I will do what is good in your sight. And the king stood by the gate-side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands.

5And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, [Deal] gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom.

6And the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim.

7And the people of Israel were routed before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day: twenty thousand men.

8And the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9And Absalom found himself in the presence of David's servants. And Absalom was riding upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of the great terebinth, and his head caught in the terebinth, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

10And a man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth.

11And Joab said to the man that told him, And behold, thou sawest [him], and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten silver pieces and a girdle.

12And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand silver pieces in my hand, yet would I not put forth my hand against the king's son; for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Take care, whoever it be [of you], of the young man Absalom.

13Or I should have acted falsely against mine own life, for there is no matter concealed from the king, and thou wouldest have set thyself against [me].