2 Samuel 20

¹And there happened to be a man of Belial, and his name was Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the shofar and said, 'We have no portion in David, and no inheritance for us in the son of Jesse. Each man to his tents, O Israel!'

²And all the men of Israel went up from after David, after Sheba son of Bichri; but the men of Judah clung to their king, from the Jordan and to Jerusalem.

³David came to his house in Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in a house under guard, and provided for them; but he did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living in widowhood.

⁴And the king said to Amasa, 'Summon for me the men of Judah within three days, and you be present here.'

⁵And Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the appointed time that he had set.

⁶And David said to Abishai, 'Now Sheba son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take your lord's servants and pursue after him, lest he find for himself fortified cities and escape our sight.'

⁷And Joab's men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men went out after him; and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

⁸They were at the great stone that is in Gibeon; and Amasa came before them. Now Joab was girded in his battle dress, with a sword-belt over him, fastened at his loins in its sheath; and as he stepped forward, it fell out.

⁹And Joab said to Amasa, 'Is it well with you, my brother?' And Joab's right hand grasped Amasa's beard to kiss him.

¹⁰But Amasa did not guard against the sword that was in Joab's hand; so Joab struck him with it in the belly, and poured out his entrails to the ground, and did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

¹¹And a man stood over him from the young men of Joab, and said, 'Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, after Joab!'

¹²And Amasa was wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. The man saw that all the people were stopping; so he moved Amasa off the highway into the field and threw a garment over him, because he saw that everyone who came upon him stopped.

¹³When he had been removed from the highway, every man passed by after Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

¹⁴And he passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites gathered and came after him.

¹⁵And they came and besieged it at Abel-beth-maacah, and heaped up a siege ramp against the city; and all the troops who were with Joab stood at the rampart, demolishing the wall to throw it down.

¹⁶Then a wise woman called out from the city, 'Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, please: Come near to here that I may speak with you.'

¹⁷And he came near to her, and the woman said, 'Are you Joab?' And he said, 'I am.' And she said to him, 'Hear the words of your maidservant.' And he said, 'I am listening.'

¹⁸And she said, saying, 'In former times they would surely speak, saying: They will inquire in Abel, and so they would settle it.'

¹⁹I am one of the peaceable, faithful ones of Israel. You are seeking to kill a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?

²⁰Joab answered and said, 'Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy!'

²¹'Not so! A man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba son of Bichri by name, has lifted his hand against the king, against David. Give him up alone, and I will depart from the city.' And the woman said to Joab, 'Look, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.'

²²And the woman went to all the people in her wisdom, and she cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, each man to his tent; and Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

²³Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Carite, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites.

²⁴and Adoram was over the forced labor, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.

²⁵And Sheva was secretary, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

²⁶And also Ira the Jairite was a priest to David.