2 Samuel 20:16–22

¹⁶a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here and let me speak with him.”

¹⁷When he had come near her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?”

“I am,” he replied.

“Listen to the words of your servant,” she said to him.

He answered, “I’m listening.”

¹⁸She said, “In the past they used to say, ‘Seek counsel in Abel,’ and that’s how they settled disputes. ¹⁹I am one of the peaceful and faithful in Israel, but you’re trying to destroy a city that is like a mother in Israel. Why would you devour the Lord’s inheritance?”

²⁰Joab protested: “Never! I would never devour or demolish! ²¹That is not the case. There is a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, who has rebelled against King David. Deliver this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.”

The woman replied to Joab, “Watch! His head will be thrown over the wall to you.” ²²The woman went to all the people with her wise counsel,^a and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, each to his own tent. Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.