3 But the people answered, You shall not go out: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; nor if half of us die, will they care for us: but you are worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that you support us out of the city.
4 And the king said to them, What seems best to you I will do. And the king stood by the side of the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands.
5 And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom.
6 So the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim;
7 Where the people of Israel were defeated before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.