18King David brought all his men together, divided them into units of a thousand and of a hundred, and placed officers in command of them. ²Then he sent them out in three groups, with Joab and Joab’s brother Abishai and Ittai from Gath, each in command of a group. And the king said to his men, “I will go with you myself.”

³“You mustn’t go with us,” they answered. “It won’t make any difference to the enemy if the rest of us turn and run, or even if half of us are killed; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It will be better if you stay here in the city and send us help.”

⁴“I will do whatever you think best,” the king answered. Then he stood by the side of the gate as his men marched out in units of a thousand and of a hundred. ⁵He gave orders to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake don’t harm the young man Absalom.” And all the troops heard David give this command to his officers.

⁶David’s army went out into the countryside and fought the Israelites in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷The Israelites were defeated by David’s men; it was a terrible defeat, with 20,000 men killed that day. ⁸The fighting spread over the countryside, and more men died in the forest than were killed in battle.

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