King James Version › 2 Samuel › 20

2 Samuel

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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 Beth­maachah, and all the Berites: and they were gath­ered to­geth­er, and went also af­ter him. 15 And they came and be­sieged him in Abel of Beth­maachah, 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.