UST 2 SAM Chapter 20

◄ 2 SAM 20 ► ║ ═ ©

20 There was a man there at Gilgal whose name was Sheba. He was the son of Bichri. He was a man who often caused trouble. He came from the tribe of Benjamin. He blew a ram’s horn and called out, “David, that son of Jesse, does not belong to us at all! So, my fellow Israelites, let us return to our homes!”

2 Then the leaders of the Israelite tribes decided not to escort David back to Jerusalem. Instead, they did what Sheba had said and returned to their homes. But the leaders of the tribe of Judah remained with David. They still wanted him to be their king. So they escorted him from near the Jordan River back to the city of Jerusalem.

3 When David arrived at the palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten secondary wives whom he had left there to take care of the palace and put them in another residence where someone guarded them. David provided what they needed, but he never had sexual relations with them again. It was as if they were widows, even though their husband was still alive. They had to stay in that residence until they died.

4 Then King David told Amasa, “Summon the soldiers of the tribe of Judah to come here by the day after tomorrow. You must be here also, ready to lead them into battle.” 5 So Amasa went to summon the Judean soldiers. But he did not return within the time that David had specified.

6 Then David told Abishai, “If we do not capture him quickly, Sheba son of Bichri will hurt us even more than Absalom did. So I want you to take the soldiers who are already here with me and go to capture him. If you do not do that, we will no longer know where he is going. That would allow him and his soldiers to go into cities that have walls and then it would be difficult to defeat them.” 7 So Abishai led those soldiers out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba. They included Joab’s personal guard, the king’s elite bodyguards, and the men who had been David’s army when he was in Gath.

8 When they arrived at the large rock that is in the region of Gibeah, Amasa met them, leading a large army of Judean soldiers. Joab was wearing armor for battle, and he had fastened a short sword in its sheath to his belt. He approached Amasa, and as he did, he made the sword fall out of its sheath into his hand.

9 Joab said to Amasa, “Hello, cousin! Are you doing well?” Then Joab grabbed Amasa’s beard with his right hand so that he could kiss him on the cheek as a friendly greeting. 10 Amasa did not think that Joab would hurt him with the sword he was holding in his hand. But Joab thrust it into Amasa’s belly, and his insides spilled out onto the ground. Amasa eventually died from this wound. Joab did not stab him again. Then Joab and his brother Abishai and the soldiers they were leading left and continued to pursue Sheba.

11 One of the young men who carried Joab’s weapons stayed next to Amasa’s body. He called out to the Judean soldiers, “Everyone who wants Joab to be our commander and who wants David to be our king, go with Joab to capture Sheba!” 12 Amasa had fallen onto the road, and he was rocking back and forth and bleeding severely as he lay slowly dying. Joab’s soldier saw that the Judean soldiers were all stopping when they came to where Amasa was. So he dragged him off the road into a field and threw a cloth over him. 13 After that soldier took Amasa’s body off the road, the other soldiers continued on and went with Joab to pursue Sheba.

14 Sheba fled north through the whole length of the territory of Israel and finally came to the city of Abel Beth Maacah. The soldiers of the Berites had formed their army and had also come north with Sheba as their commander. 15 Joab and the soldiers he was commanding found out that Sheba had gone there, so they went there and surrounded the city. They built a dirt ramp up against the outer wall of the city. Then they started battering the wall to try to make it collapse. 16 But a wise woman who lived in that city stood on the top of the wall and shouted, “Listen to me! Please ask Joab to come here, because I want to talk to him!” 17 So they told Joab and he came there, and the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He replied, “Yes, I am.” She said to him, “Please listen to what I say.” He replied, “I am listening.”

18 She said, “For a long time people have said, ‘When people have problems, they ought to ask the people who live in the city of Abel what they should do.’ By getting good advice here, they have solved their problems. 19 We who live in this city are peaceful and loyal Israelites. But you are trying to destroy our city. Many towns and villages in this area depend on us. You should not be trying to destroy a community that belongs to Yahweh!”

20 Joab replied, “I certainly do not want to destroy your city at all! 21 That is not what we want to do. But Sheba son of Bichri, a man from the hilly area where the people of the tribe of Ephraim live, is rebelling against King David. If you surrender only him to us, then we will go away from this city.” The woman replied to Joab, “We agree. We will cut off his head and throw it over the wall to you.”

22 Then this woman went to the leaders of the city and told them what she had said to Joab. They agreed, and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it over the wall to Joab. Then Joab blew his ram’s horn to signal that his soldiers should stop fighting. They left that city and returned to their homes. Joab returned to Jerusalem and told King David what had happened.

23 After David became king again, Joab was the commander of the entire Israelite army. Benaiah son of Jehoiada was the commander of David’s elite corps of bodyguards. 24 Adoniram supervised the men whom the king forced to work for him. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the man who reported to the people everything that David decided. 25 Sheva was the official secretary. Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. 26 And Ira from the city of Jair was David’s advisor.

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UST 2 SAM Chapter 20

UST 2 SAM Chapter 20