2 Samuel 20:1–21:22
1 Now aa worthless fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of bBichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet and said,
“cWe have no portion in David,
Nor do we have inheritance in dthe son of Jesse;
eEvery man to his tents, O Israel!”
2 So all the men of Israel 1withdrew from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah 2remained steadfast to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.
3 Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and athe king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows.
4 Then the king said to aAmasa, “Call out the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself.”
5 So Amasa went to call out the men of Judah, but he adelayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
6 And David said to aAbishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom; btake your lord’s servants and pursue him, so that he does not find for himself fortified cities and escape from our sight.”
7 So Joab’s men went out after him, aalong with the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men; and they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
8 When they were at the large stone which is in aGibeon, Amasa came 1to meet them. Now Joab was 2dressed in his military attire, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened at his waist; and as he went forward, it fell out.
9 Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And aJoab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
10 But Amasa was not on guard against the sword which was in Joab’s hand so ahe struck him in the belly with it and poured out his inward parts on the ground, and did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.
11 Now there stood by him one of Joab’s young men, and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, alet him follow Joab.”
12 But Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he 1removed Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.
13 As soon as he was removed from the highway, all the men passed on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.
14 Now he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they were gathered together and also went after him.
15 They came and besieged him in aAbel Beth-maacah, and bthey 1cast up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood by the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction in order to topple the wall.
16 Then aa wise woman called from the city, “Hear, hear! Please tell Joab, ‘Come here that I may speak with you.’ ”
17 So he approached her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.”
18 Then she spoke, saying, “Formerly they used to say, ‘They will surely ask advice at Abel,’ and thus they ended the dispute.
19 “I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. aYou are seeking to destroy a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up bthe inheritance of the Lord?”
20 Joab replied, “Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy!
21 “Such is not the case. But a man from athe hill country of Ephraim, bSheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against King David. Only hand him over, and I will depart from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”
22 Then the woman awisely came to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So bhe blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.
23 aNow Joab was over the whole army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites;
24 and Adoram was over the forced labor, and aJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;
25 and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and aAbiathar were priests;
26 and Ira the Jairite was also a priest to David.
1 Now there was aa famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and bDavid sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and athe sons of Israel 1made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to 2kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).
3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless athe inheritance of the Lord?”
4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, “aWe have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “I will do for you whatever you say.”
5 So they said to the king, “aThe man who consumed us and who planned 1to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel,
6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will 1hang them abefore the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, bthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
7 But the king spared aMephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, bbecause of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan.
8 So the king took the two sons of aRizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of 1bMerab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the cMeholathite.
9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they 1hanged them in the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at athe beginning of barley harvest.
10 aAnd Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until 1it rained on them from the sky; and bshe 2allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 When it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,
12 then David went and took athe bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of bBeth-shan, cwhere the Philistines had hanged them on the day dthe Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa.
13 He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been 1hanged.
14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in aZela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that bGod was moved by prayer for the land.
15 Now when athe Philistines were at war again with Israel, David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary.
16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was aamong the descendants of the 1giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, 2was girded with a new sword, and he 3intended to kill David.
17 But aAbishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “bYou shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish cthe lamp of Israel.”
18 aNow it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then bSibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the 1giant.
19 There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite 1killed 2Goliath the Gittite, athe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20 There was war at Gath again, 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 had been born ato the 1giant.
21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down.
22 aThese four were born to the 1giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.