¹² You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. Why then should you be the last to bring the king home?’

¹³ “And say to Amasa: ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh?^[a] May God deal with me in the most severe way possible if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.’ ” ¹⁴ With those words, David won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man, and they sent this message to the king: “Return, both you and all who serve you.”