2 Samuel 20-24

New American Standard Bible

Sheba’s Revolt

20 Now ^(A)a worthless man happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of ^(B)Bichri, a Benjaminite; and he blew the trumpet and said,

“^(C)We have no share in David,
Nor do we have an inheritance in ^(D)the son of Jesse;
^(E)Every man to his tents, Israel!”

²So all the men of Israel ^[a]withdrew from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah ^[b]remained loyal to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

³Then David came to his house in Jerusalem, and ^(F)the king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left behind to take care of the house, and put them in custody and provided them with food, but did not ^[c]have relations with them. So they were locked up until the day of their death, living as widows.

⁴Now the king said to ^(G)Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah for me within three days, and be present here yourself.” ⁵So Amasa went to summon the men of Judah, but he was ^(H)delayed longer than the set time which he had designated for him. ⁶And David said to ^(I)Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom; ^(J)take your lord’s servants and pursue him, so that he does not find for himself fortified cities and escape from our sight.” ⁷So Joab’s men went out after him, ^(K)along with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors; and they left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸When they were at the large stone which is in ^(L)Gibeon, Amasa came ^[d]to meet them. Now Joab was dressed in his military attire, and over it he had a belt with a sword in its sheath strapped on at his waist; and as he went forward, it fell out. ⁹And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it going well for you, my brother?” And ^(M)Joab took hold of Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

Amasa Murdered

¹⁰But Amasa was not on guard against the sword which was in Joab’s hand, so ^(N)he struck him in the belly with it and spilled out his intestines on the ground, and did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹Now one of Joab’s young men stood by him and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, ^(O)follow Joab!” ¹²But Amasa was wallowing in his own blood in the middle of the road. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa from the road to the field and threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.

Revolt Put Down

¹³As soon as he was removed from the road, all the men went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴Now he went on through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, that is, Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they assembled and went after him as well. ¹⁵And they came and besieged him in ^(P)Abel Beth-maacah, and ^(Q)they ^[e]built up an assault ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction in order to topple the wall. ¹⁶Then ^(R)a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen, listen! Please tell Joab, ‘Come here that I may speak with you.’” ¹⁷So he approached her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your slave.” And he said, “I am listening.” ¹⁸Then she spoke, saying, “In the past they used to say, ‘They will undoubtedly ask advice at Abel,’ and that is how they ended a dispute. ¹⁹I am one of those who are ready for peace and faithful in Israel. ^(S)You are trying to destroy a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up ^(T)the inheritance of the Lord?” ²⁰Joab replied, “Far be it, far be it from me that I would consume or destroy! ²¹Such is not the case. But a man from ^(U)the hill country of Ephraim, ^(V)Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against King David. Only turn him over, and I will depart from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²²Then the woman ^(W)wisely came to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So ^(X)he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.

²³^(Y)Now Joab was in command of the entire army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; ²⁴and Adoram was over the forced labor, and ^(Z)Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the secretary; ²⁵and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and ^(AA)Abiathar were priests; ²⁶Ira the Jairite also was a priest to David.

Gibeonite’s Revenge

21 Now there was ^(AB)a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and ^(AC)David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and ^(AD)the sons of Israel had ^[f]made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to ^[g]kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). ³David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make amends, so that you will bless ^(AE)the inheritance of the Lord?” ⁴Then the Gibeonites said to him, “^(AF)For us it is not a matter of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” Nevertheless David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” ⁵So they said to the king, “^(AG)The man who destroyed us and who planned ^[h]to eliminate us so that we would not exist within any border of Israel— ⁶let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will ^[i]hang them ^(AH)before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, ^(AI)the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared ^(AJ)Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, ^(AK)because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. ⁸So the king took the two sons of ^(AL)Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of ^[j]^(AM)Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the ^(AN)Meholathite. ⁹Then he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they ^[k]hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at ^(AO)the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰^(AP)And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until ^[l]it rained on them from the sky; and ^(AQ)she ^[m]allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the wild animals by night. ¹¹When it was reported to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹²then David went and took ^(AR)the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of ^(AS)Beth-shan, ^(AT)where the Philistines had hanged them on the day ^(AU)the Philistines struck and killed Saul in Gilboa. ¹³He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who had been ^[n]hanged. ¹⁴Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in ^(AV)Zela, in the grave of his father Kish; So they did everything that the king commanded, and after that ^(AW)God responded to prayer for the land.

¹⁵Now when ^(AX)the Philistines were at war with Israel again, David went down, and his servants with him; and when they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. ¹⁶Then Ishbi-benob, who was ^(AY)among the descendants of the ^[o]giant, the weight of whose spear was ^[p]three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, ^[q]had strapped on a new sword, and he ^[r]intended to kill David. ¹⁷But ^(AZ)Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “^(BA)You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish ^(BB)the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸^(BC)Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then ^(BD)Sibbecai the Hushathite struck and killed Saph, who was among the descendants of the ^[s]giant. ¹⁹And there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite ^[t]killed ^[u]Goliath the Gittite, ^(BE)the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰And there was war at Gath again, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born ^(BF)to the ^[v]giant. ²¹When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck and killed him. ²²^(BG)These four were born to the ^[w]giant at Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

David’s Psalm of Deliverance

22 ^(BH)Now David spoke ^(BI)the words of this song to the Lord on the day that the Lord had saved him from the ^[x]hand of all his enemies and from the ^[y]hand of Saul. ²He said,

“^(BJ)The Lord is my ^[z]rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
³^[aa]^(BK)My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My ^(BL)shield and ^(BM)the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and ^(BN)my refuge;
My savior, You save me from violence.
⁴I call upon the Lord, ^(BO)who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
⁵For ^(BP)the waves of death encompassed me;
^(BQ)The floods of ^[ab]destruction terrified me;
⁶^(BR)The ropes of ^[ac]Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
⁷^(BS)In my distress I called upon the Lord,
Yes, I called out to my God;
And from His temple He heard my voice,
And my cry for help came into His ears.
⁸Then ^(BT)the earth shook and quaked,
^(BU)The foundations of heaven were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
⁹Smoke went up ^[ad]out of His nostrils,
^(BV)And fire from His mouth was devouring;
^(BW)Coals were kindled by it.
¹⁰He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down
With ^(BX)thick darkness under His feet.
¹¹^(BY)He rode on a cherub and flew;
He ^[ae]appeared on ^(BZ)the wings of the wind.
¹²^(CA)He made darkness canopies around Him,
A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.
¹³From the brightness before Him
^(CB)Coals of fire were kindled.
¹⁴^(CC)The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
¹⁵^(CD)And He shot arrows and scattered them,
Lightning, and ^[af]routed them.
¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were exposed
By the rebuke of the Lord,
^(CE)From the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
¹⁷^(CF)He sent from on high, He took me;
^(CG)He drew me out of many waters.
¹⁸He rescued me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
¹⁹They confronted me on the day of my disaster,
^(CH)But the Lord was my support.
²⁰^(CI)He also brought me out into an open place;
He rescued me, ^(CJ)because He delighted in me.
²¹^(CK)The Lord has treated me in accordance with my righteousness;
^(CL)In accordance with the cleanliness of my hands He has repaid me.
²²^(CM)For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
²³^(CN)For all His ordinances were before me,
And as for His statutes, I did not deviate from ^[ag]them.
²⁴^(CO)I was also ^[ah]blameless toward Him,
And I have kept myself from my wrongdoing.
²⁵^(CP)So the Lord has repaid me in accordance with my righteousness,
In accordance with my cleanliness before His eyes.
²⁶^(CQ)With the one who is faithful You show Yourself faithful,
With the ^[ai]blameless one You prove Yourself ^[aj]blameless;
²⁷^(CR)With the one who is pure You show Yourself pure,
^(CS)But with the perverted You ^[ak]show Yourself astute.
²⁸^(CT)And You save an afflicted people;
^(CU)But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You humiliate.
²⁹^(CV)For You are my lamp, Lord;
And the Lord illuminates my darkness.
³⁰^(CW)For by You I can run at a ^[al]troop of warriors;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
³¹^(CX)As for God, His way is ^[am]blameless;
^(CY)The word of the Lord is refined;
^(CZ)He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
³²^(DA)For who is God, except the Lord?
^(DB)And who is a rock, except our God?
³³^(DC)God is my strong fortress;
And He ^[an]sets the ^[ao]blameless on ^[ap]His way.
³⁴^(DD)He makes ^[aq]my feet like deer’s feet,
^(DE)And sets me on my high places.
³⁵^(DF)He trains my hands for battle,
^(DG)So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁶You have also given me ^(DH)the shield of Your salvation,
And Your ^[ar]help makes me great.
³⁷^(DI)You enlarge my steps under me,
And my ^[as]feet have not slipped.
³⁸I pursued my enemies and ^(DJ)eliminated them,
And I did not turn back until they were finished off.
³⁹And I have devoured them and smashed them, so that they would not rise;
And ^(DK)they fell under my feet.
⁴⁰For You have encircled me with strength for battle;
You have forced ^(DL)those who rose up against me to bow down under me.
⁴¹You have also ^(DM)made my enemies turn their backs to me,
And I ^[at]destroyed those who hated me.
⁴²^(DN)They looked, but there was no one to save them;
^(DO)Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
⁴³^(DP)Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth;
^(DQ)I crushed and trampled them like the mud of the streets.
⁴⁴^(DR)You have also saved me from the contentions of my people;
^(DS)You have kept me as head of the nations;
^(DT)A people I have not known serve me.
⁴⁵^(DU)Foreigners pretend to obey me;
As soon as they hear, they obey me.
⁴⁶Foreigners lose heart,
^(DV)And ^[au]come trembling out of their fortresses.
⁴⁷The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock;
And exalted be ^[av]^(DW)my God, the rock of my salvation,
⁴⁸^(DX)The God who executes vengeance for me,
^(DY)And brings down peoples under me,
⁴⁹Who also brings me out from my enemies;
You also raise me above ^(DZ)those who rise up against me;
^(EA)You rescue me from the violent person.
⁵⁰^(EB)Therefore I will ^[aw]give thanks to You, Lord, among the nations,
And I will sing praises to Your name.
⁵¹^(EC)He is a tower of ^[ax]salvation to His king,
And ^(ED)shows favor to His anointed,
^(EE)To David and his ^[ay]descendants forever.”

David’s Last Song

23 Now these are the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse declares,
^(EF)The man who was raised on high,
^(EG)The anointed of the God of Jacob
And the sweet psalmist of Israel, declares,
²“^(EH)The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me,
And His word was on my tongue.
³The God of Israel said it;
^(EI)The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
‘^(EJ)He who rules over mankind righteously,
^(EK)Who rules in the fear of God,
⁴^(EL)Is like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the fresh grass springs out of the earth
From sunshine after rain.’
⁵Is my house not indeed so with God?
For ^(EM)He has made an everlasting covenant with me,
Properly ordered in all things, and secured;
For will He not indeed make
All my salvation and all my delight grow?
⁶^(EN)But the worthless, every one of them, are like scattered thorns,
Because they cannot be taken in hand;
⁷Instead, the man who touches them
Must be ^[az]armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And ^(EO)they will be completely burned with fire in their ^[ba]place.”

David’s Mighty Men

⁸^(EP)These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, chief of the ^[bb]captains; he was called Adino the Eznite because of eight hundred who were killed by him at one time. ⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of ^(EQ)Dodo the ^(ER)Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had ^[bc]withdrawn. ¹⁰^(ES)He rose up and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and ^[bd]it clung to the sword, and ^(ET)the Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder the dead.

¹¹Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee, a ^(EU)Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered ^[be]into an army where there was a plot of land full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it, and struck the Philistines; and ^(EV)the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David at harvest time to the ^(EW)cave of Adullam, while the army of the Philistines was camping in ^(EX)the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴David was then ^(EY)in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵And ^(EZ)David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!” ¹⁶^(FA)So the three mighty men forced their way into the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David. Yet he would not drink it, but ^(FB)poured it out as an offering to the Lord; ¹⁷and he said, “Far be it from me, Lord, that I would do this! ^(FC)Should I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸Now ^(FD)Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was ^(FE)chief of the ^[bf]thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred ^[bg]and killed them, and had a name ^[bh]as well as the three. ¹⁹He was the most honored among the thirty, so he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the reputation of the three.

²⁰Then ^(FF)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of ^(FG)Kabzeel, who had done great deeds, ^[bi]killed the ^[bj]two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹And he ^[bk]killed an Egyptian, ^[bl]an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²²These things ^(FH)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name ^[bm]as well as the three mighty men. ²³He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain the reputation of the three. And David appointed him over his bodyguard.

²⁴^(FI)Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; and there was Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵^(FJ)Shammah the ^(FK)Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the ^(FL)Tekoite, ²⁷Abiezer the ^(FM)Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the ^(FN)Netophathite, ²⁹^(FO)Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of ^(FP)Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah a ^(FQ)Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of ^(FR)Gaash, ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the ^(FS)Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the ^(FT)Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³^(FU)Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of ^(FV)the Maacathite, ^(FW)Eliam the son of ^(FX)Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵^(FY)Hezro the ^(FZ)Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of ^(GA)Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the ^(GB)Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the ^(GC)Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹and ^(GD)Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

The Census Taken

24 ^(GE)Now ^(GF)the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again, and He incited David against them to say, “^(GG)Go, count Israel and Judah.” ²So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^(GH)from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people.” ³But Joab said to the king, “^(GI)May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴Nevertheless, the king’s order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel. ⁵They crossed the Jordan and camped in ^(GJ)Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad and toward ^(GK)Jazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead and to ^[bn]the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ^(GL)Sidon, ⁷then they came to the ^(GM)fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^(GN)Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ^(GO)Beersheba. ⁸So when they had roamed about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave ^(GP)the number of the census of the people to the king: in Israel there were ^(GQ)eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰Now ^(GR)David’s heart ^[bo]troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the Lord, “^(GS)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, Lord, please ^[bp]overlook the guilt of Your servant, for ^(GT)I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(GU)Gad the prophet, David’s ^(GV)seer, saying, ¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”’” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(GW)seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord, ^(GX)for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

Plague Sent

¹⁵So ^(GY)the Lord ^[bq]sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people ^(GZ)from Dan to Beersheba died. ¹⁶^(HA)When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, ^(HB)the Lord relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now drop your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, ^(HC)it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but ^(HD)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house!”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^(HE)Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^[br]Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹Then David went up in accordance with the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. ²¹Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, ^(HF)so that the plague may be ^[bs]withdrawn from the people.” ²²Araunah then said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, here are ^(HG)the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God be ^(HH)favorable to you.” ²⁴However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for ^(HI)I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God ^[bt]that cost me nothing.” So ^(HJ)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵Then David built there an altar to the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And ^(HK)the Lord responded to prayer for the land, and the plague was ^[bu]withdrawn from Israel.