2 Samuel 20–21

The Rebellion of Sheba

20Now there happened to be there ^da worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,

^e“We have no portion in David,

and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;

^fevery man to his tents, O Israel!”

²So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took ^gthe ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

⁴Then the king said to ^hAmasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” ⁵So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. ⁶And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take ⁱyour lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.”^{1 7}And there went out after him Joab’s men and the ^jCherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. ⁹And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand ^kto kiss him. ¹⁰But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. ^lSo Joab struck him with it ^min the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹And one of Joab’s young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” ¹²And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. ¹³When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to ⁿAbel of ⁿBeth-maacah,² and all ^othe Bichrites³ assembled and followed him in. ¹⁵And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in ⁿAbel of Beth-maacah. ^pThey cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down. ¹⁶Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’ ” ¹⁷And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” ¹⁸Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at ⁿAbel,’ and so they settled a matter. ¹⁹I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you ^qswallow up ^rthe heritage of the Lord?” ²⁰Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should ^qswallow up or destroy! ²¹That is not true. But a man of ^sthe hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.” ²²Then the woman went to all the people ^tin her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, ^uevery man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

^23vNow Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; ²⁴and ^wAdoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; ²⁵and Sheva was secretary; and ^xZadok and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶and ^yIra the Jairite was also David’s priest.

David Avenges the Gibeonites

21Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David ^zsought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but ^aof the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. ³And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless ^bthe heritage of the Lord?” ⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” ⁵They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, ⁶let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at ^cGibeah of Saul, ^dthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of ^ethe oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸The king took the two sons of ^fRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab¹ the daughter of Saul, whom ^gshe bore to ^hAdriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; ⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, ⁱat the beginning of barley harvest.

^10jThen Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, ^kwho had stolen them from the public square of ^lBeth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. ¹³And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in ^mZela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that ⁿGod responded to the plea for the land.

War with the Philistines

¹⁵There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. ¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants ^oof the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels² of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. ¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, ^p“You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench ^qthe lamp of Israel.”

^18rAfter this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then ^sSibbecai ^tthe Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants ^uof the giants. ¹⁹And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and ^vElhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, ^wthe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.^{3 20}And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended ^xfrom the giants. ²¹And when ^yhe taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. ²²These four were descended ^xfrom the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.