²So all the people of Israel left David to follow Sheba, Bichri’s son. But the people of Judah remained loyal to their king ⸤on his way⸥ from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.

³When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines^ahe had left to look after the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but no longer slept with them. So they lived like widows in confinement until they died.

⁴The king told Amasa, “Call the people of Judah together for me, and in three days be here yourself.” ⁵Amasa went to call Judah together, but he took longer to do it than David had given him.

⁶David then told Abishai, “Sheba, son of Bichri, will do us more harm than Absalom. Take my men and go after him, or he will find some fortified cities and take the best ones for himself.”

⁷So Joab’s men, the Cherethites, Pelethites, and all the soldiers went with Abishai. They left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, Bichri’s son. ⁸When they were at the large rock in Gibeon, Amasa met them there. Joab wore a military uniform, and strapped over it at his hip was a sword in a scabbard. As he stepped forward, the sword dropped ⸤into his hand⸥. ⁹“How are you, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. He took hold of Amasa’s beard with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰Amasa wasn’t on his guard against the sword in Joab’s ⸤left⸥ hand. Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and his intestines poured out on the ground. (He died without being stabbed again.) Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba, son of Bichri. ¹¹One of Joab’s young men stood beside Amasa^cand said, “Anyone who favors Joab and is on David’s side should follow Joab.” ¹²Amasa was wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road. When the man saw that all the troops stopped as they came to the body, he carried Amasa from the road to the field and threw a sheet over him. ¹³As soon as he was moved from the road, everyone followed Joab and pursued Sheba, Bichri’s son.

¹⁴Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel (Beth Maacah). All the Berites were gathered together and followed him to the city. ¹⁵Joab’s army came and attacked him in Abel (Beth Maacah). They put up a dirt ramp against the city, and it stood level with the outer wall. All the troops with Joab were trying to destroy the wall and tear it down.

¹⁶Then a clever woman called from the city, “Listen, listen! Tell Joab to come here so that I can talk to him.”

¹⁷He came near, and she asked, “Are you Joab?”

“I am,” he answered.

“Listen to what I have to say,” she told him.

“I’m listening,” he answered.

¹⁸So she said, “There’s an old saying: ‘Be sure to ask at Abel ⸤before doing anything⸥. That’s the way they settle matters.’ ¹⁹We are peaceful and faithful Israelites. Are you trying to destroy a mother city in Israel? Why should you swallow up what belongs to the Lord?”

²⁰Joab answered, “That’s unthinkable! I don’t wish to swallow ⸤it⸥ up or destroy ⸤it⸥. ²¹That isn’t the case. A man from the mountains of Ephraim by the name of Sheba, son of Bichri, has rebelled against King David. Give him to me, and I’ll withdraw from the city.”

“That’s fine,” the woman told Joab. “His head will be thrown to you from the wall.” ²²Then the woman went to all the people with her clever plan. They cut off Sheba’s head and threw it to Joab. He blew the ram’s horn, and everyone scattered and withdrew from the city and went home. Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.

David’s Officials

²³Now, Joab was put in charge of Israel’s whole army. Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was in charge of the Cherethites and Pelethites. ²⁴Adoram was in charge of forced labor. Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the royal historian. ²⁵Sheva was the royal scribe. Zadok and Abiathar were priests. ²⁶And Ira, a descendant of Jair, was a priest to David.

21ST CHAPTER

David and the People of Gibeon

¹In the time of David, there was a famine for three successive years, and David asked the Lord’s advice about it. The Lord answered, “It’s because of Saul and his family. They are guilty of murder because they killed the people of Gibeon.”

²(The Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were left over from the Amorites. Although the Israelites had sworn ⸤to spare them⸥, Saul, in his eagerness, tried to destroy them for Israel and Judah.)

The king called the Gibeonites ³and asked them, “What can I do for you? What should I ⸤give you⸥ to make peace with you so that you will bless what belongs to the Lord?”

⁴“We do not want silver or gold from Saul’s family,” the Gibeonites answered him. “And none of us wants to kill ⸤anyone⸥ in Israel.”

The king asked, “What are you saying that I should do for you?”

⁵They answered the king, “Give us seven of the male descendants of the man who wanted to finish us off. He planned to wipe us out to keep us from staying anywhere in Israel’s territory. ⁶We will execute them in the Lord’s presence at Saul’s town Gibeah.” (It was Saul whom the Lord had chosen.)

“I will give them ⸤to you⸥,” the king said.

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson, because of the oath in the Lord’s name between David and Jonathan, son of Saul. ⁸The king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah (Aiah’s daughter) gave birth to for Saul, and five sons whom Merab^a(Saul’s daughter) gave birth to for Adriel, son of Barzillai from Meholah. ⁹The king handed them over to the Gibeonites, who executed them on the mountain in the Lord’s presence. All seven died together. They were killed at the beginning of the harvest, when people started harvesting barley.

¹⁰Rizpah (Aiah’s daughter) took sackcloth and stretched it out on the rock for herself from the beginning of the harvest until the sky rained on the dead bodies. She wouldn’t let any birds land on them during the day or any wild animals come near them during the night.

¹¹When David was told what Saul’s concubine^bRizpah (Aiah’s daughter) had done, ¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shean, where the Philistines had hung them the day they killed Saul at Gilboa. ¹³When David brought up the bones of Saul and Jonathan, his men gathered the bones of those who had been executed. ¹⁴Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, in Zela, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. They did everything the king ordered. After that, God answered the prayers for the land.

The Giants of the Philistines Defeated—1 Chronicles 20:4–8

¹⁵Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. So David and his men went to fight the Philistines, but David became exhausted. ¹⁶A descendant of Haraphah named Benob, who had a bronze spear weighing 7½ pounds which he wore on a new belt, captured David and intended to kill him. ¹⁷But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to help David. He attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore an oath, saying, “You’ll never go into battle with us again. The lamp of Israel must never be extinguished.”

¹⁸After this, there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of Haraphah. ¹⁹When more fighting broke out with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan, son of Jaare Oregim from Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath. (The shaft of Goliath’s spear was like a beam used by weavers.) ²⁰In another battle at Gath, there was a tall man who had a total of 24 fingers and toes: six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He also was a descendant of Haraphah. ²¹When he challenged Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him. ²²These four were descendants of Haraphah from Gath, and David and his men killed them.

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Footnotes

a 20:3 Hebrew “concubines/wives”; a concubine is considered a wife except she has fewer rights under the law.
c 20:11 Greek, Latin; Masoretic Text “him.”
a 21:8 1 Samuel 18:19, two Hebrew manuscripts, some Greek manuscripts, Syriac, Targum; other Hebrew and Greek manuscripts “Mical.”
b 21:11 A concubine is considered a wife except she has fewer rights under the law.