32Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelin and j-passed on to the Jordan with the king, to see him off at-j the Jordan. 33Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age; and he had provided the king with food during his stay at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. 34The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem at my side.” 35But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years are left to me that I should go up with Your Majesty to Jerusalem? 36I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between good and bad? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still listen to the singing of men and women? Why then should your servant continue to be a burden to my lord the king? 37 j-Your servant could barely cross the Jordan-j with your Majesty! Why should Your Majesty reward me so generously? 38Let your servant go back, and let me die in my own town, near the graves of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him cross with my lord the king, and do for him as you see fit.” 39And the king said, “Chimhamk shall cross with me, and I will do for him as you see fit; and anything you want me to do, I will do for you.”
40iAll the troops crossed the Jordan; and when the king was ready to cross, the king kissed Barzillai and bade him farewell; and [Barzillai] returned to his home. 41The king passed on to Gilgal, with Chimhamk accompanying him; and all the Judite soldiers and part of the Israelite army escorted the king across.
42Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why did our kinsmen, the men of Judah, steal you away and escort the king and his family across the Jordan, along with all David’s men?” 43All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our relative! Why should this upset you? Have we consumed anything that belongs to the king? Has he given us any gifts?” 44But the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and m-in David, too, we have more than you.-m Why then have you slighted us? Were we not the first to propose that our king be brought back?” However, the men of Judah prevailed over the men of Israel.
20 A scoundrel named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite, happened to be there. He sounded the horn and proclaimed:
“We have no portion in David,
No share in Jesse’s son!
Every man to his tent, O Israel!”
2All the men of Israel left David and followed Sheba son of Bichri; but the men of Judah accompanied their king from the Jordan to Jerusalem. 3David went to his palace in Jerusalem, and the king took the ten concubines he had left to mind the palace and put them in a guarded place; he provided for them, but he did not cohabit with them. They remained in seclusion until the day they died, in living widowhood.
4The king said to Amasa, “Call up the men of Judah to my standard, and report here three days from now.” 5Amasa went to call up Judah, but he took longer than the time set for him. 6And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bichri will cause us more trouble than Absalom. So take your lord’s servants and pursue him, before he finds fortified towns and a-eludes us.”-a 7b-Joab’s men, the Cherethites and Pelethites, and all the warriors, marched out behind him.-b They left Jerusalem in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri. 8They were near the great stone in Gibeon when Amasa appeared before them. a-Joab was wearing his military dress, with his sword girded over it and fastened around his waist in its sheath; and, as he stepped forward, it fell out.-a 9Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, brother?” and with his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to kiss him. 10Amasa was not on his guard against the sword in Joab’s [left] hand, and [Joab] drove it into his belly so that his entrails poured out on the ground and he died; he did not need to strike him a second time.
Joab and his brother Abishai then set off in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri, 11while one of Joab’s henchmen stood by c-the corpse-c and called out, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is on David’s side, follow Joab!” 12Amasa lay in the middle of the road, drenched in his blood; and the man saw that everyone stopped. And when he saw that all the people were stopping, he dragged Amasa from the road into the field and covered him with a garment. 13Once he was removed from the road, everybody continued to follow Joab in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri. 14[Sheba] had passed through all the tribes of Israel up to Abel ofd Beth-maacah; and all the Beeritese assembled and followed him inside. 15[Joab’s men] came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah; they threw up a siegemound against the city f-and it stood against the rampart.-f
All the troops with Joab were g-engaged in battering the wall,-g 16when a clever woman shouted from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come over here so I can talk to him.” 17He approached her, and the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” “Yes,” he answered; and she said to him, “Listen to what your handmaid has to say.” “I’m listening,” he replied. 18And she continued, “In olden times people used to say, a-‘Let them inquire of Abel,’-a and that was the end of the matter. 19I am one of those who seek the welfare of the faithful in Israel. But you seek to bring death upon a mother city in Israel! Why should you destroy the Lord’s possession?” 20Joab replied, “Far be it, far be it from me to destroy or to ruin! 21Not at all! But a certain man from the hill country of Ephraim, named Sheba son of Bichri, has rebelled against King David. Just hand him alone over to us, and I will withdraw from the city.” The woman assured Joab, “His head shall be thrown over the wall to you.” 22The woman came to all the people with her clever plan; and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it down to Joab. He then sounded the horn; all the men dispersed to their homes, and Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
23Joab was commander of the whole army [of] Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was commander of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; 24Adoramh was in charge of forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 25Shevai was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests. 26Ira the Jairite also served David as priest.
21 There was a famine during the reign of David, year after year for three years. David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD replied, “It is because of the bloodguilt of Saul and [his] house, for he put some Gibeonites to death.” 2The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.—Now the Gibeonites were not of Israelite stock, but a remnant of the Amorites, to whom the Israelites had given an oath; and Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.— 3David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make expiation, so that you may bless the Lord’s own people?” 4The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no claim for silver or gold against Saul and his household; and we have no claim on the life of any other man in Israel.” And [David] responded, “Whatever you say I will do for you.” 5Thereupon they said to the king, “The man who massacred us and planned to a-exterminate us, so that we-a should not survive in all the territory of Israel—6let seven of his male issue be handed over to us, and we will impale them before the LORD in b-Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.”-b And the king replied, “I will do so.”
7The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between the two, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8Instead, the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons that Rizpah daughter of Aiah bore to Saul, and the five sons that Merabc daughter of Saul bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite, 9and he handed them over to the Gibeonites. They impaled them on the mountain before the LORD; all seven of them perished at the same time. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest, the beginning of the barley harvest.
10Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it on a rock for herself, and she stayed there from the beginning
