2 Samuel 18:9

And Absalom meets before the servants of David, and Absalom is riding on the mule, and the mule comes in under an entangled bough of the great oak, and his head takes hold on the oak, and he is placed between the heavens and the earth, and the mule that [is] under him has passed on.

Literal Standard Version

In The King James Version

And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

In Context

8and the battle there is scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest multiplies to devour among the people more than those whom the sword has devoured in that day.

10And one man sees, and declares [it] to Joab, and says, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”

Read all of 2 Samuel 18

Cross References

Deuteronomy 21:23his corpse does not remain on the tree, for you certainly bury him in the day—for he who is hanged [becomes] a curse of God—and you do not defile your ground which your God YHWH is giving to you [for] an inheritance.”

Deuteronomy 27:20“Cursed [is] he who is lying with his father’s wife, for he has uncovered his father’s skirt.” And all the people have said, “Amen.”

2 Samuel 17:23And Ahithophel has seen that his counsel was not done, and he saddles the donkey, and rises and goes to his house, to his city, and gives charge to his household, and strangles himself, and dies, and he is buried in the burying-place of his father.

Job 18:8For he is sent into a net by his own feet, || And he habitually walks on a snare.

Psalms 63:9And they who seek my soul for desolation, || Go into the lower parts of the earth.

Proverbs 30:17An eye that mocks at a father, || And despises to obey a mother, || Ravens of the valley dig it out, || And young eagles eat it.

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 18:2-9

Preparations for Battle. ( b. c. 1023.) 1 And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. 3 But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 2 Samuel 18:9