20
1 And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name
was
Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither
have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
2 So every man of Israel went up from after David,
and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.
3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women
his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in
unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.
4 Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present.
5 So Amasa went to assemble
the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
6 And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than
did Absalom: take thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape
us.
7 And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty
men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
8 When they
were at the great stone which
is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon
it a girdle
with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.
9 And Joab said to Amasa,
Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that
was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth
rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his
brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
11 And one of Joab’s men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that
is for David,
let him go after Joab.
12 And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood
still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that
every one that came by him stood still.
13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the
son of Bichri.
14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and
they were gathered together, and went also after him.
15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and
it stood in the trench: and all the people that
were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.
16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that
I may speak with thee.
17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said,
Art thou Joab? And he answered, I
am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.
18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask
counsel at Abel: and so they ended
the matter.
19 I
am one of them that are peaceable
and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up
the inheritance of the LORD?
20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
21 The matter
is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against
the king,
even
against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold,
his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of
Bichri, and cast
it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab
returned to Jerusalem unto the king.
23 Now Joab
was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:
24 And Adoram
was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud
was recorder:
25 And Sheva
was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar
were
the priests:
26 And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.