2 Samuel 20

₁There was a bad man named Sheba. He was the son of Bikri from the Benjamin tribe. He blew the ram's-horn and he said: ‘We are not David's people. We do not belong to the son of Jesse. We are Israelites, and we must go back to our homes.’

₂All the men of Israel went away from David and they went with Sheba, son of Bikri. But the men of Judah, from the Jordan River to Jerusalem, stayed with their king. ₃King David had 10 concubines before he went away from Jerusalem. They stayed there to look after his palace. When he came back to his palace, he put his concubines in a house away from the other women with someone who guarded them. He gave them everything they needed, but he never slept with them again and they lived as widows until they died.

₄The king said to Amasa: ‘Tell all the men of Judah to come to me in 3 days. I will wait for 3 days, then everyone must be here. You must be here too.’ ₅Amasa went to call all the men of Judah, but after 3 days he had not come back. ₆David said to Abishai: ‘Sheba, son of Bikri, will now give us more problems than Absalom did. Take some of my men and go and catch Sheba. He must not go into one of the cities with strong walls because then he will escape from us.’ ₇Joab and his men went with Abishai and the men who guarded the king and all the best soldiers. They went from Jerusalem to look for Sheba, son of Bikri, to catch him.

₈When they came to the big rock at Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab wore his war clothes and his sword was tied to his belt. When he walked to Amasa, his sword fell onto the ground. ₉Joab asked Amasa: ‘Are you well, my brother?’ Then Joab grabbed Amasa's beard with his right hand to kiss him. ₁₀Amasa did not see the sword in Joab's left hand and Joab stabbed Amasa in his stomach. Amasa's insides came out. Joab stabbed Amasa only one time and he died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai went to look for Sheba, son of Bikri. ₁₁One of Joab's men stood next to Amasa and said: ‘Everyone who wants to follow Joab and David, come with Joab.’

₁₂Amasa lay in his blood in the road and everyone who walked past Amasa stopped and looked. Then the man who stood next to Amasa pulled Amasa's body into the field and threw a cloak over him. ₁₃After he had pulled Amasa out of the road, all the men went further to chase Sheba, son of Bikri. ₁₄Sheba took the men of all the tribes_of_Israel with him to the city of Abel-Beth-Maakah. All the men of the Bikri family also went with him. ₁₅Joab and the other men attacked the city. They built a ramp against the wall of the city and the men started to break down the wall. ₁₆There was a wise woman in the city. She shouted to Joab: ‘Listen, listen to me. Please tell Joab he must come here. I want to talk to him.’

₁₇When Joab came near her, the woman asked: ‘Are you Joab?’ And Joab said: ‘Yes, I am.’ She said to him: ‘Listen to what I say.’ And he said: ‘Well, I am listening.’ ₁₈The woman said: ‘When people wanted to know what to do, they always said they must ask the people of the city of Abel, then they would know what to do. ₁₉I am one of many people in the land_of_Israel who want peace and I want to listen to the king. Why do you want to kill the people of this important city? This is a city that belongs to the Lord. Why do you want to destroy it?’

₂₀Joab said: ‘No, I do not want to destroy the city and its people. ₂₁That is not what I want to do. But someone from the Ephraim mountains has rebelled_against the king, against David. His name is Sheba, son of Bikri. If you give him to us, we will go away from your city.’ The woman said to Joab: ‘All right, we will throw his head over the wall to you.’

₂₂The woman went to the men in the city and she told them what she thought they must do. Then they cut off Sheba's head and they threw it to Joab. Joab blew the ram's-horn and he and his men went away from the city. They all went home. Joab went back to Jerusalem to the king.

₂₃Joab was the chief of all the men in the army of Israel. Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, was the leader of the men who guarded the king. ₂₄Adoniram was the leader of the men who had to work for the king. Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was the leader of the people who wrote down everything. ₂₅Sheva was the secretary, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. ₂₆Ira, from the town of Jair, was also a priest of David.