²⁵ Now Absalom had set ^(A)Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite,^[a] who had married Abigal the daughter of ^(B)Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.

^13 (A)Jesse fathered Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, ^(B)Shimea the third,

¹³ And say to Amasa, ^(A)‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? ^(B)God do so to me and more also, if you are not ^(C)commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’”

⁹ And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand ^(A)to kiss him. ¹⁰ But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand. ^(B)So Joab struck him with it ^(C)in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹ And one of Joab's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” ¹² And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him.

¹⁶ And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. ^(A)The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three. ^17 (B)Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was ^(C)Jether the Ishmaelite.

³² The Lord will ^(A)bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men ^(B)more righteous and better than himself, ^(C)Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ^(D)Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

⁵ “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah ^(A)did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, ^(B)Abner the son of Ner, ^(C)and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging^[a] in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war^[b] on the belt around his^[c] waist and on the sandals on his feet.

⁴ Then the king said to ^(A)Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.”