In Context

2 and David sendeth the third of the people by the hand of Joab, and the third by the hand of Abishai, son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, and the third by the hand of Ittai the Gittite, and the king saith unto the people, 'I certainly go out — I also — with you.'

3 And the people say, 'Thou dost not go out, for if we utterly flee, they do not set their heart upon us; and if half of us die, they do not set their heart unto us — for now like us are ten thousand; and now, better that thou be to us from the city for an helper.'

4 And the king saith unto them, 'That which is good in your eyes I do;' and the king standeth at the side of the gate, and all the people have gone out by hundreds and by thousands,

5 and the king chargeth Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, 'Gently — for me, for the youth, for Absalom;' and all the people heard in the king's charging all the heads concerning Absalom.

6 And the people goeth out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle is in a forest of Ephraim;

7 and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day — twenty thousand;

2 Samuel 18:5 in Other Translations