2 Samuel 20–21

Sheba Rebels Against David

20Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted,

“We have no share^z in David,^a

no part in Jesse’s son!^b

Every man to his tent, Israel!”

²So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines^c he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but had no sexual relations with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows.

⁴Then the king said to Amasa,^d “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.” ⁵But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the time the king had set for him.

⁶David said to Abishai,^e “Now Sheba son of Bikri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your master’s men and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.”^{a 7}So Joab’s men and the Kerethites^f and Pelethites and all the mighty warriors went out under the command of Abishai. They marched out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.

⁸While they were at the great rock in Gibeon,^g Amasa came to meet them. Joab^h was wearing his military tunic, and strapped over it at his waist was a belt with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it dropped out of its sheath.

⁹Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰Amasa was not on his guard against the daggerⁱ in Joab’s^j hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.

¹¹One of Joab’s men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!” ¹²Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt^k there. When he realized that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him. ¹³After Amasa had been removed from the road, everyone went on with Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.

¹⁴Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Maakah and through the entire region of the Bikrites,^bl who gathered together and followed him. ¹⁵All the troops with Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Maakah.^m They built a siege rampⁿ up to the city, and it stood against the outer fortifications. While they were battering the wall to bring it down, ¹⁶a wise woman^o called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here so I can speak to him.” ¹⁷He went toward her, and she asked, “Are you Joab?”

“I am,” he answered.

She said, “Listen to what your servant has to say.”

“I’m listening,” he said.

¹⁸She continued, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Get your answer at Abel,’ and that settled it. ¹⁹We are the peaceful^p and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”^q

²⁰“Far be it from me!” Joab replied, “Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy! ²¹That is not the case. A man named Sheba son of Bikri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Hand over this one man, and I’ll withdraw from the city.”

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

²²Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice,^s and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.

David’s Officials

²³Joab^t was over Israel’s entire army; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; ²⁴Adoniram^cu was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat^v son of Ahilud was recorder; ²⁵Sheva was secretary; Zadok^w and Abiathar were priests; ²⁶and Ira the Jairite^d was David’s priest.

The Gibeonites Avenged

21During the reign of David, there was a famine^x for three successive years; so David sought^y the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

²The king summoned the Gibeonites^z and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.) ³David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?”^a

⁴The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.”^b

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

⁵They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, ⁶let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed^c before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen^d one.”

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

⁷The king spared Mephibosheth^e son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath^f before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul. ⁸But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah,^g whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,^a whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.^{h 9}He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the Lord. All seven of them fell together; they were put to deathⁱ during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.^j

¹⁰Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.^{k 11}When David was told what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done, ¹²he went and took the bones of Saul^l and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead.^m (They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth Shan,ⁿ where the Philistines had hung^o them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)^{p 13}David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up.

¹⁴They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish, at Zela^q in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that,^r God answered prayer^s in behalf of the land.^t

Wars Against the Philistines

21:15–22pp—1Ch 20:4–8

¹⁵Once again there was a battle between the Philistines^u and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. ¹⁶And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels^b and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. ¹⁷But Abishai^v son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp^w of Israel will not be extinguished.^x”

¹⁸In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai^y the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.

¹⁹In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair^c the Bethlehemite killed the brother of^d Goliath the Gittite,^z who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.^a

²⁰In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. ²¹When he taunted^b Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah,^c David’s brother, killed him.

²²These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.