2 Samuel 19:3
And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
The troops came back into the capital that day hushed and furtive, slipping in by stealth instead of marching in as conquerors. Their bearing was that of beaten men slinking from a rout, ashamed at having fled the field, though in fact they had carried the day. No shout of triumph marked their return, only the quiet, downcast movement of soldiers who felt disgraced rather than victorious. That gloom was cast over them by David's open lament for Absalom, whose death the king mourned aloud while his loyal men looked on. His public grief turned the deliverance they had fought to secure into a day of mourning, so the joy of victory was swallowed up in sorrow for the rebel son.