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2 Samuel 20
New English Translation

Sheba’s Rebellion

20 Now a wicked man[a] named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjaminite,[b] happened to be there. He blew the trumpet[c] and said,

“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home,[d] O Israel!”

2 So all the men of Israel deserted[e] David and followed Sheba son of Bikri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River[f] to Jerusalem.

3 Then David went to his palace[g] in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement.[h] Though he provided for their needs, he did not sleep with them.[i] They remained under restriction until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days,[j] and you be present here with them too.” 5 So Amasa went out to call Judah together. But in doing so he took longer than the time that the king had allotted him.

6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bikri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure[k] fortified cities for himself and get away from us.” 7 So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.

8 When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out.[l]

9 Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my brother?” With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to greet him with a kiss. 10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab[m] stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s[n] intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal.[o] Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bikri.

11 One of Joab’s soldiers who stood over Amasa said, “Whoever is for[p] Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!” 12 Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa[q] stopped, the man[r] pulled him[s] away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him. 13 Once he had removed Amasa[t] from the path, everyone followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bikri.

14 Sheba[u] traveled through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of[v] Beth Maacah and all the Berite region. When they had assembled,[w] they too joined him. 15 So Joab’s men[x] came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city that stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through[y] the wall so that it would collapse, 16 a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen up! Listen up! Tell Joab, ‘Come near so that I may speak to you.’”

17 When he approached her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He replied, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “Go ahead. I’m listening.” 18 She said, “In the past they would always say, ‘Let them inquire in Abel,’ and that is how they settled things. 19 I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city[z] in Israel. Why should you swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”

20 Joab answered, “Not at all![aa] I don’t intend to swallow up or destroy anything! 21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bikri. He has rebelled[ab] against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute[ac] his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head[ad] and threw it out to Joab. Joab[ae] blew the trumpet, and his men[af] dispersed from the city, each going to his own home.[ag] Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

23 Now Joab was the general in command of all the army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and the Perethites. 24 Adoniram[ah] was supervisor of the work crews.[ai] Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the secretary. 25 Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. 26 Ira the Jairite was David’s personal priest.[aj]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
  2. 2 Samuel 20:1 tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yemini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.
  3. 2 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “the shofar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
  4. 2 Samuel 20:1 tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (leʾohalayv, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לֵאלֹהָיו (leʾlohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.
  5. 2 Samuel 20:2 tn Heb “went up from after.”
  6. 2 Samuel 20:2 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  7. 2 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “house.”
  8. 2 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “and he placed them in a guarded house.”
  9. 2 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “come to them.” The expression בּוֹא אֶל (boʾ ʾel) means “come to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
  10. 2 Samuel 20:4 tn The present translation follows the Masoretic accentuation, with the major mark of disjunction (i.e., the ’atnakh) placed at the word “days.” However, some scholars have suggested moving the ’atnakh to “Judah” a couple of words earlier. This would yield the following sense: “Three days, and you be present here with them.” The difference in meaning is slight, and the MT is acceptable as it stands.
  11. 2 Samuel 20:6 tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vehitsil, “and he will get away”).
  12. 2 Samuel 20:8 sn The significance of the statement it fell out here is unclear. If the dagger fell out of its sheath before Joab got to Amasa, how then did he kill him? Josephus, Ant. 7.11.7 (7.284), suggested that as Joab approached Amasa he deliberately caused the dagger to fall to the ground at an opportune moment as though by accident. When he bent over and picked it up, he then stabbed Amasa with it. Others have tried to make a case for thinking that two swords are referred to—the one that fell out and another that Joab kept concealed until the last moment. But nothing in the text clearly supports this view. Perhaps Josephus’ understanding is best, but it is by no means obvious in the text either.
  13. 2 Samuel 20:10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  14. 2 Samuel 20:10 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  15. 2 Samuel 20:10 tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”
  16. 2 Samuel 20:11 tn Heb “takes delight in.”
  17. 2 Samuel 20:12 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  18. 2 Samuel 20:12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who spoke up in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  19. 2 Samuel 20:12 tn Heb “Amasa.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.
  20. 2 Samuel 20:13 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  21. 2 Samuel 20:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Sheba) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  22. 2 Samuel 20:14 tc In keeping with the form of the name in v. 15, the translation deletes the “and” found in the MT.
  23. 2 Samuel 20:14 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ (vayyiqqahalu, “and they were gathered together”) rather than the Kethib of the MT וַיִּקְלֻהוּ (vayyiqluhu, “and they cursed him”). The Kethib is the result of metathesis.
  24. 2 Samuel 20:15 tn Heb “they.” The following context makes it clear that this refers to Joab and his army.
  25. 2 Samuel 20:15 tc The LXX has here ἐνοοῦσαν (enoousan, “were devising”), which apparently presupposes the Hebrew word מַחֲשָׁבִים (makhashavim) rather than the MT מַשְׁחִיתִם (mashkhitim, “were destroying”). With a number of other scholars Driver thinks that the Greek variant may preserve the original reading, but this seems to be an unnecessary conclusion (but see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 346).
  26. 2 Samuel 20:19 tn Heb “a city and a mother.” The expression is a hendiadys, meaning that this city was an important one in Israel and had smaller cities dependent on it.
  27. 2 Samuel 20:20 tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.
  28. 2 Samuel 20:21 tn Heb “lifted his hand.”
  29. 2 Samuel 20:21 tn Heb “Look!”
  30. 2 Samuel 20:22 tn Heb “the head of Sheba son of Bikri.”
  31. 2 Samuel 20:22 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  32. 2 Samuel 20:22 tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  33. 2 Samuel 20:22 tn Heb “his tents.”
  34. 2 Samuel 20:24 tn Heb “Adoram” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV, CEV), but see 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14.
  35. 2 Samuel 20:24 tn Heb “was over the forced labor.”
  36. 2 Samuel 20:26 tn Heb “priest for David.” KJV (“a chief ruler about David”) and ASV (“chief minister unto David”) regarded this office as political.
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2 Samuel 20
Lexham English Bible

Sheba Leads a Revolt

20 Now a man of wickedness was found there whose name was Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. He blew the horn and said, “There is no share for us in David, and there is no inheritance for us in the son of Jesse; each to his tents, O Israel!” 2 Then all the men of Israel went up from following after David, following instead after Sheba the son of Bicri, but the men of Judah stuck to their king from the Jordan up to Jerusalem. 3 David went up to his house in Jerusalem, then the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to look after the house, and he put them under confinement.[a] However, he provided for them, but he did not sleep with them.[b] So they were confined until the day of their death, like a lifetime of widowhood.

Joab Assassinates Amasa

4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon for me the men of Judah within three days, and be here yourself.”[c] 5 So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he tarried more than the appointed time which he had set for him. 6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bicri will do us more harm than Absalom. You take the servants of your lord and pursue after him, lest he find fortified cities for himself and escape from us.” 7 Then the men of Joab, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty warriors went out after him; they went out from Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba the son of Bicri. 8 They were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, and Amasa came before them. Joab was dressed in his military clothing,[d] with a utility belt on him and a sword strapped to his waist in its scabbard. Now he went out, and it fell out. 9 Then Joab said to Amasa, “Is it peace, O you my brother?” Then the right hand of Joab took hold of the beard of Amasa as if to kiss him. 10 Now Amasa was not on his guard against the sword that was in Joab’s hand, and he struck him with it into the stomach, and his entrails poured out to the ground. He did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bicri. 11 A young man stood over him, from the young men of Joab, and he said, “Whoever takes delight in Joab and whoever is for David, follow after Joab.” 12 Now Amasa was wallowing in the blood in the middle of the highway; when the man saw that all the people stood there, he turned Amasa over from the highway into the field, and he threw a garment over him because he had seen that all who had come by him had stopped. 13 After he was removed from the highway, all the men passed by after Joab to pursue after Sheba the son of Bicri.

Wisdom from a Woman under Siege

14 (He[e] had passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth Maacah; now all of the Berites had been treated badly, so they also followed after him.) 15 And they came and besieged him in Abel Beth Maacah. They threw up a siege ramp against the city, and they stood against the ramparts. And all the army who were with Joab were battering to cause the wall to fall. 16 Then a wise woman from the city called out, “Listen, listen! Please speak to Joab to come near here so that I may speak to you.” 17 Then he came near to her, and the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” And he said, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “I am listening.” 18 Then she said, “In former times, they would always say,[f] ‘By all means, let them inquire in Abel,’ and so they settled things. 19 I am one of the faithful representatives of Israel. You are seeking to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow the inheritance of Yahweh?” 20 Then Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow or I should destroy. 21 That is not the matter. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name is Sheba the son Bicri, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Give only him to us, and I will depart from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “Look, his head is being thrown down to you over the wall.” 22 The woman went to all of the people with her wise plan, so they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bicri and threw it to Joab. Then he blew the horn and dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. 23 Now Joab was over all the army of Israel and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Carites and over the Pelethites. 24 Adoram was over the forced labor, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder. 25 Shiya was secretary, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests. 26 Also Ira the Jairite was priest for David.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 20:3 Literally “a house of guard”
  2. 2 Samuel 20:3 Literally “he did not come into them”
  3. 2 Samuel 20:4 Literally “and you stand here”
  4. 2 Samuel 20:8 Literally “was dressed his garment his clothing”
  5. 2 Samuel 20:14 i.e., “Sheba”
  6. 2 Samuel 20:18 Literally “speaking they would speak”
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