2 Samuel 20–21

Sheba Leads Israel Away from David

20It happened that a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bicri from the tribe of Benjamin was there. He blew the trumpet and said:

“We have no share in David!

We have no part in the son of Jesse!

People of Israel, let’s go home!”

²So all the Israelites left David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the people of Judah stayed with their king all the way from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.

³David came back to his palace in Jerusalem. He had left ten of his slave women there to take care of the palace. Now he put them in a locked house. He gave them food, but he did not have sexual relations with them. So they lived like widows until they died.

⁴The king said to Amasa, “Tell the men of Judah to meet with me in three days, and you must also be here.” ⁵So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together, but he took more time than the king had said.

⁶David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bicri is more dangerous to us than Absalom was. Take my men and chase him before he finds walled cities and escapes from us.” ⁷So Joab’s men, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, ⁿ and all the soldiers went with Abishai. They went out from Jerusalem to chase Sheba son of Bicri.

⁸When Joab and the army came to the great rock at Gibeon, Amasa came out to meet them. Joab was wearing his uniform, and at his waist he wore a belt that held his sword in its case. As Joab stepped forward, his sword fell out of its case. ⁹Joab asked Amasa, “Brother, is everything all right with you?” Then with his right hand he took Amasa by the beard to kiss him. ¹⁰Amasa was not watching the sword in Joab’s hand. So Joab pushed the sword into Amasa’s stomach, causing Amasa’s insides to spill onto the ground. Joab did not have to stab Amasa again; he was already dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai continued to chase Sheba son of Bicri.

¹¹One of Joab’s young men stood by Amasa’s body and said, “Everyone who is for Joab and David should follow Joab!” ¹²Amasa lay in the middle of the road, covered with his own blood. When the young man saw that everyone was stopping to look at the body, he dragged it from the road, laid it in a field, and put a cloth over it. ¹³After Amasa’s body was taken off the road, all the men followed Joab to chase Sheba son of Bicri.

¹⁴Sheba went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maacah. All the Berites also came together and followed him. ¹⁵So Joab and his men came to Abel Beth Maacah and surrounded it. They piled dirt up against the city wall, and they began hacking at the walls to bring them down.

¹⁶But a wise woman shouted out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here. I want to talk to him!”

¹⁷So Joab came near her. She asked him, “Are you Joab?”

He answered, “Yes, I am.”

Then she said, “Listen to what I say.”

Joab said, “I’m listening.”

¹⁸Then the woman said, “In the past people would say, ‘Ask for advice at Abel,’ and the problem would be solved. ¹⁹I am one of the peaceful, loyal people of Israel. You are trying to destroy an important city of Israel. Why must you destroy what belongs to the Lord?”

²⁰Joab answered, “I would prefer not to destroy or ruin anything! ²¹That is not what I want. But there is a man here from the mountains of Ephraim, who is named Sheba son of Bicri. He has turned against King David. If you bring him to me, I will leave the city alone.”

The woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown over the wall to you.”

²²Then the woman spoke very wisely to all the people of the city. They cut off the head of Sheba son of Bicri and threw it over the wall to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and the army left the city. Every man returned home, and Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.

²³Joab was commander of all the army of Israel. Benaiah son of Jehoiada led the Kerethites and Pelethites. ²⁴Adoniram was in charge of the men who were forced to do hard work. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder. ²⁵Sheba was the royal secretary. Zadok and Abiathar were the priests, ²⁶and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

The Gibeonites Punish Saul’s Family

21During the time David was king, there was a shortage of food that lasted for three years. So David prayed to the Lord.

The Lord answered, “Saul and his family of murderers are the reason for this shortage, because he killed the Gibeonites.” ²(Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were a group of Amorites who were left alive. The Israelites had promised not to hurt the Gibeonites, but Saul had tried to kill them, because he was eager to help the people of Israel and Judah.)

King David called the Gibeonites together and spoke to them. ³He asked, “What can I do for you? How can I make up for the harm done so you can bless the Lord’s people?”

⁴The Gibeonites said to David, “We cannot demand silver or gold from Saul or his family. And we don’t have the right to kill anyone in Israel.”

Then David asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

⁵The Gibeonites said, “Saul made plans against us and tried to destroy all our people who are left in the land of Israel. ⁶So bring seven of his sons to us. Then we will kill them and hang them on stakes in the presence of the Lord at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord’s chosen king.”

The king said, “I will give them to you.” ⁷But the king protected Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the promise he had made to Jonathan in the Lord’s name. ⁸The king did take Armoni and Mephibosheth, ⁿ sons of Rizpah and Saul. (Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah.) And the king took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab. (Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite was the father of Merab’s five sons.) ⁹David gave these seven sons to the Gibeonites. Then the Gibeonites killed them and hung them on stakes on a hill in the presence of the Lord. All seven sons died together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest season at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took the rough cloth that was worn to show sadness and put it on a rock for herself. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on her sons’ bodies. During the day she did not let the birds of the sky touch her sons’ bodies, and during the night she did not let the wild animals touch them.

¹¹People told David what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s slave woman, was doing. ¹²Then David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. (The Philistines had hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan in the public square of Beth Shan after they had killed Saul at Gilboa. Later the men of Jabesh Gilead had secretly taken them from there.) ¹³David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from Gilead. Then the people gathered the bodies of Saul’s seven sons who were hanged on stakes. ¹⁴The people buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. The people did everything the king commanded.

Then God answered the prayers for the land.

Wars with the Philistines

¹⁵Again there was war between the Philistines and Israel. David and his men went out to fight the Philistines, but David became tired. ¹⁶Ishbi-Benob, one of the sons of Rapha, had a bronze spearhead weighing about seven and one-half pounds and a new sword. He planned to kill David, ¹⁷but Abishai son of Zeruiah killed the Philistine and saved David’s life.

Then David’s men made a promise to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle. If you were killed, Israel would lose its greatest leader.”

¹⁸Later, at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, another one of the sons of Rapha.

¹⁹Later, there was another battle at Gob with the Philistines. Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem killed Goliath ⁿ from Gath. His spear was as large as a weaver’s rod.

²⁰At Gath another battle took place. A huge man was there; he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four fingers and toes in all. This man also was one of the sons of Rapha. ²¹When he challenged Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.

²²These four sons of Rapha from Gath were killed by David and his men.