Old Testament
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
New Testament
2 Samuel 20
Sheba's Rebellion
201A worthless troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjaminite, was present. He blew a ram's horn and said, “We have no share with David, and no inheritance with the son of Jesse. Every man to his own tent,[] Israel!” 2So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stuck with their king and accompanied him from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
3David arrived at his palace in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines whom he had left to take care of the house and put them in a residence that was under guard. He provided for them but did not go to them anymore. They were confined until the day of their death-a life of widowhood.
4The king said to Amasa, “You have three days to bring all the men of Judah to me and to be here yourself.” 5So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time that David had set for him.
6So David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bikri will do more damage to us than Absalom. You take the soldiers of your lord. Pursue Sheba, so that he does not find fortified cities for himself, and we lose him.”
7So Joab's men, the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the elite troops followed Abishai. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.
8When they were by the large stone that is at Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his battle dress and had a belt with a sheathed dagger fastened around his waist. As he went forward, the dagger fell out. 9Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” With his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa's beard to kiss him. 10Amasa was not on guard against the dagger that was in Joab's other hand. With it Joab struck Amasa in the abdomen, and Amasa's intestines spilled out on the ground. It did not take another blow to kill him.
Joab and his brother Abishai resumed their pursuit of Sheba son of Bikri. 11One of Joab's young officers stood beside Amasa. He said, “Who favors Joab? Who is for David? Follow Joab.”
12Amasa was still wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. Someone saw that all the people were stopping when they came upon Amasa and saw him, so he dragged Amasa off the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. 13When Amasa was removed from the highway, everyone followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.
14Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth Ma'akah, and all the Berites[] were gathered together and they followed him.
15All the men who were with Joab besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Ma'akah. They constructed a siege ramp against the rampart of the city, and they started battering the wall to make it fall down.
16A wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab, ‘Come here and let me speak to you.’” 17He approached her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?”
He said, “I am.”
She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.”
He said, “I am listening.”
18She said, “In former times they always said, ‘Let them ask in Abel.’ That is how they settled things. 19I am one of the peaceful, faithful people of Israel. You are seeking to put to death a whole city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?”
20Joab answered, “May I be cursed, yes, cursed, if I am here to swallow up or destroy. 21That is not the case. The fact is, a man from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name is Sheba son of Bikri, lifted up his hand against King David. Just give him up, and I will withdraw from the city.”
The woman said to Joab, “Certainly! His head will be thrown over the wall to you.”
22So the woman went to all the people with her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. Then he blew the ram's horn, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. Joab then returned to the king in Jerusalem.
David's Officers
23Joab was over the whole army of Israel. Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and the Pelethites. 24Adoram was in charge of forced labor. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the record keeper.[] 25Sheva[] was the secretary, and Zadok and Abiathar were the high priests. 26Also Ira the Jairite was a government minister[] for David.
Footnotes
- 20:1 To his own tent is an idiom for to his own home. It is used regardless of the form of the dwelling.
- 20:14 The Hebrew reads Berites. The Greek and Latin versions read Bikrites. There is no other reference to Berites in the Bible.
- 20:24 This official also served as a spokesman and chief of protocol. Like the secretary, he was the equivalent of a cabinet-level official.
- 20:25 Hebrew variant Sheya. This name has various forms and spellings. In Hebrew script the letters v and y look alike.
- 20:26 The Hebrew word cohen usually means priest, that is, a spiritual minister. Here cohen is used in the European sense of a minister of state.