2 Samuel 20:1–22:30

And there happened to be there aa man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, bWe have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: cevery man to his tents, O Israel. 2 So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem. 3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his dconcubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in †ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were †shut up unto the day of their death, †living in widowhood. 4 Then said the king to eAmasa, †Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. 5 So Amasa went to †assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou fthy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and †escape us. 7 And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the gCherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to hkiss him. 10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so ihe smote him therewith kin the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and †struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. 11 And one of Joab’s men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. 12 And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of lthe highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. 13 When he was removed out of lthe highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto mAbel, and to nBeth-maachah, and all othe Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. 15 And they came and besieged him in mAbel of Beth-maachah, and they pcast up a bank against the city, and ||it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab †battered the wall, to throw it down. 16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. 17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. 18 Then she spake, saying, ||They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at mAbel: and so they ended the matter. 19 I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou qswallow up rthe inheritance of the Lord? 20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should qswallow up or destroy. 21 The matter is not so: but a man sof mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri †by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. 22 Then the woman went unto all the people tin her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they †retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

23 Now uJoab was over all the host of Israel: and xBenaiah the son of Jehoiada was over ythe Cherethites and over the Pelethites: 24 And zAdoram was over the tribute: and aJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was ||recorder: 25 And Sheva was scribe: and bZadok and Abiathar were the priests: 26 And cIra also dthe Jairite was ||a chief ruler about David.

21 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David †inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because ahe slew the Gibeonites. 2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but bof the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) 3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless cthe inheritance of the Lord? 4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, ||We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. 5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that d||devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, 6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord ein Gibeah of Saul, ||whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of fthe Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 But the king took the two sons of gRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of ||Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she †brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in hthe beginning of barley harvest. 10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, ifrom the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from jthe men of Jabesh-gilead, kwhich had stolen them from the street of lBeth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: 13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. 14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in mZelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that nGod was intreated for the land.

15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint. 16 And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of ||the giant, the weight of whose †spear weighed three hundred oshekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. 17 But pAbishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, qThou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the †light of Israel. 18 rAnd it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then sSibbechai the sHushathite slew ||Saph, which was of the sons of ||the giant. 19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where tElhanan the son of ||Jaare-oregim, a Beth-lehemite, slew uthe brother of Goliath the Gittite, wthe staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 And there was yet a battle in xGath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to ||the giant. 21 And when he ||defied Israel, Jonathan the son of yShimea the brother of David slew him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell zby the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

22 And David spake aunto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 bAnd he said,

The Lord is cmy rock, and dmy fortress, and my deliverer;

3  The God eof my rock; fin him will I trust:

He is my gshield, and the hhorn of my salvation, my ihigh tower, and my krefuge,

My saviour; thou savest me from violence.

4  I will call on the Lord, lwho is worthy to be praised:

So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

5  When the ||waves of death compassed me,

The floods of †ungodly men made me afraid;

6  The ||sorrows of hell compassed me about;

The snares of death prevented me;

7  In my distress mI called upon the Lord,

And cried to my God:

And he did hear my voice out of his temple,

And my cry ndid enter into his ears.

8  Then othe earth shook and trembled;

pThe foundations of heaven moved

And shook, because he was wroth.

9  There went up a smoke †out of his nostrils,

And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

10  He qbowed the heavens also, and came down;

And rdarkness was under his feet.

11  And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:

And he was seen supon the wings of the wind.

12  And he made darkness tpavilions round about him,

†Dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

13  Through the brightness before him

Were coals of fire kindled.

14  The Lord uthundered from heaven,

And the most High uttered his …