Beginning
Joab warns King David
19 Someone told Joab that the king was very sad and he was weeping because Absalom was dead. 2 All the people heard the news that the king was very sad about his son's death. King David's army had won the battle, so everyone should have been very happy. But instead, they were all sad. 3 The soldiers came very quietly back into Mahanaim city. It seemed like they were ashamed because they had run away from the battle. 4 The king covered his face and he cried, ‘Absalom, Absalom! My son, my son!’
5 Then Joab went to see the king in his room. He said to the king, ‘Today you have made your men feel ashamed. But the army has saved your life today. We have saved the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your slave wives. 6 You seem to love the people who hate you. And you seem to hate the people who love you! You have shown today that your officers and soldiers are not important to you. It seems that you would be happy if Absalom were still alive, and all the rest of us were dead. 7 Now go out and speak to your soldiers. Thank them that they have fought well. If you do not do that, none of your men will remain here tonight. I tell you in the Lord's name, that will certainly happen. That would bring worse trouble to you than anything that has happened in your whole life.’
8 So the king went out from his room. He went to sit by the city's gate. People heard the news, ‘The king is sitting by the gate.’ So they all came there to listen to him.
David returns to Jerusalem as king
At this time, the Israelite soldiers had run back to their own homes. 9 People in all the Israelite tribes were quarrelling with each other. They were saying, ‘King David saved us from the power of the Philistines and all our other enemies. But now Absalom has chased him out of our land. 10 We chose Absalom to be our king, but now he has died in the battle. We should surely go and bring David back to be our king again.’
11 Then King David sent a message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. He told them, ‘Go to the leaders of Judah and say to them, “Surely, you should not be the last tribe to bring the king back to his palace? He knows what the people in all Israel are saying about him. 12 You are my brothers! I belong to your family. So you should not be the last people to bring me back as your king.” 13 Also, say to Amasa, “We belong to the same family. I promise you that I will now make you the leader of my army, instead of Joab. I ask God to punish me if I do not do that for you.” ’
14 Because of this message, all the people of Judah's tribe agreed to serve David as their king. They sent this message to the king: ‘Return to us, together with all your officers.’ 15 So the king left Mahanaim to return to Jerusalem.
When David arrived at the Jordan River, the people of Judah had come to Gilgal to meet him there. They wanted to help him to cross the river.
16 Gera's son, Shimei, came there quickly with the people of Judah to meet King David. He was from Bahurim and he belonged to Benjamin's tribe. 17 He brought 1,000 men from his own tribe with him. Ziba, the servant of Saul's family, also came with his 15 sons and 20 servants. They all hurried to the Jordan River to meet the king. 18 They crossed the river where the water was not deep. They were ready to help the king and his people come across. They were ready to do whatever the king wanted.
When Shimei had gone across the Jordan River, he bent down low to the ground in front of the king. 19 He said to the king, ‘Please forgive me for my sin. Do not punish me. I insulted you, my lord, on the day when you left Jerusalem. Please forget about what I did. 20 I am your servant. I know that I did a bad thing. So I have come to meet you today. From all the descendants of Joseph, I am the first person to come to meet you here, my lord the king.’[a]
21 Then Abishai, Zeruiah's son, said, ‘We should kill Shimei. He cursed you, the Lord's chosen king, so he deserves to die.’
22 David replied, ‘No! You sons of Zeruiah should not tell me what to do! Have you become my enemy? You should realize that today I have become king over all Israel. So we should not punish anyone with death.’
23 The king made a strong promise to Shimei. He said to Shimei, ‘You will not die because of this.’
David is kind to Mephibosheth
24 Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, also came from Jerusalem to meet the king. Since David had left Jerusalem, Mephibosheth had not washed his feet, cut his beard or washed his clothes. 25 When he arrived from Jerusalem to meet the king, David asked him, ‘Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?’
26 He said, ‘My lord the king, as you know, I cannot walk properly. So I said to my servant, “Prepare a donkey for me to ride, so that I can leave Jerusalem with the king.” But Ziba, my servant, deceived me. 27 And he has told you lies about me. But you are like an angel of God. I know that you will do what you think is right. 28 I know that you, my lord the king, would have been right to kill all my grandfather's family. We all deserved that punishment. But instead, you asked me to eat meals at your table. So it would not be right for me to ask you to do anything more for me.’
29 The king said, ‘You have said enough about this. I have decided that you and Ziba will share the fields that belonged to your grandfather, Saul.’
30 Mephibosheth said to the king, ‘That is not important to me. Ziba can take them all. You have returned home safely. That is what makes me happy.’
David and Barzillai
31 Barzillai, the man from Gilead, came from Rogelim to meet the king at the Jordan River. He wanted to help the king to come across the river and to continue his journey. 32 But Barzillai was a very old man, 80 years old. He had taken care of David when David was living in Mahanaim. He had helped David with many gifts, because he was a very rich man. 33 King David said to him, ‘Come with me to live in Jerusalem. I will take care of you while you are with me there.’
34 Barzillai answered the king, ‘I will not live many more years. Why should I go to live in Jerusalem with the king? 35 I am already 80 years old. I can no longer tell what is nice or what is bad. I cannot taste what I eat and drink. I cannot still hear people's voices when they sing. I would only cause trouble to you, my lord the king. 36 I will come across the river and I will travel a short way with you. But I cannot accept your kind gift. 37 Let me return to my own town, sir. Then I will die there. They can bury me near the grave of my father and my mother. Look! Here is my son, Kimham. Let him go with you, my lord the king. Please do for him whatever you think is right.’
38 The king said, ‘Kimham can go with me. I will do for him whatever you think is good. I will also help you in any way that you choose.’
39 So all the people went across the Jordan River with the king. The king kissed Barzillai and he asked God to bless him. Then Barzillai returned to his home.
40 The king went across the river to Gilgal. Kimham went with him.[b] All Judah's army and half of Israel's soldiers helped the king to cross the river.
The men from Israel are angry with the men from Judah
41 Then all the men of Israel's tribes came to the king. They complained, ‘Why did our brothers, the men of Judah's tribe, take you for themselves? Why were they the only people who could help the king to cross the Jordan River? They helped you and your family and your soldiers to cross, and we had no part in it.’
42 The men of Judah's tribe replied, ‘We did it because the king belongs to our own family. Do not be angry about it. The king did not pay for the food that we ate. We have not taken any of his things for ourselves.’
43 The men of Israel's tribes replied, ‘In Israel we are ten tribes, and Judah is only one tribe. So he is our king ten times more than he is your king! So why have you tried to insult us? We were the first people to say that we should bring the king back to Jerusalem.’
But the words that the men of Judah spoke were much stronger than the words of the men of Israel.
Sheba causes trouble for David
20 There was a wicked man there in Gilgal. His name was Sheba. He was Bicri's son, who belonged to Benjamin's tribe.[c] He made a loud noise with a trumpet and then he shouted, ‘Israelite people, we have nothing to do with Jesse's son, David! We do not belong to his kingdom! So we should all return to our homes.’
2 So the Israelites left David in Gilgal, and they went with Bicri's son, Sheba. But the men of Judah's tribe stayed with David. They helped him on his journey all the way from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.
3 David returned to his palace in Jerusalem. Then he took the ten slave wives that he had left there to take care of his palace. Now he made them live in their own house, with guards to keep them safe. He gave them everything that they needed, but he did not sleep with them. They lived there on their own. They lived like widows until they died.
David sends Amasa to fetch all the men from Judah
4 The king said to Amasa, ‘Bring all the men of Judah's tribe here to me. Three days from now, I will meet with them. You must also be here yourself.’
5 Amasa went to fetch Judah's men, but he did not return in three days.[d]
6 Then David said to Abishai, ‘Bicri's son, Sheba, will cause us more trouble than Absalom did. Take my soldiers and chase after him. If you do not catch him, his people will hide in towns with strong walls. Then he will escape from us.’
7 So Abishai took Joab's soldiers, as well as the king's personal guards, the Pelethites and the Kerethites. He and all the king's soldiers marched out from Jerusalem to find Sheba. 8 When they arrived at the big rock in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his soldier's clothes. He had a long knife that was tied to his belt. As Joab went towards Amasa, the knife fell to the ground.
9 Joab said to Amasa, ‘How are you, my brother?’ He took hold of Amasa's beard with his right hand. He pretended that he wanted to kiss him. 10 But Amasa did not see the knife in Joab's other hand. Joab pushed the knife into Amasa's stomach. His inside parts poured out onto the ground. He died immediately. Joab did not have to hit him again.
Then Joab and his brother Abishai continued to chase after Sheba.
11 One of Joab's soldiers stood beside Amasa's dead body. He shouted, ‘If you are fighting for Joab and for King David, you must follow Joab!’ 12 Amasa's dead body was lying in the road. His blood was all around it. All the soldiers who came there stopped when they saw the body. So the man pulled Amasa's dead body off the road into a field. He covered it with a cloth. 13 After he had removed Amasa's dead body from the road, the soldiers all followed Joab. They continued to chase after Bicri's son, Sheba.
14 Sheba travelled through the land of all Israel's tribes. He arrived at Abel Beth Maakah.[e] All the people of Bicri's clan also came to the city. They joined Sheba there. 15 Then Joab's soldiers arrived and they started to attack Abel Beth Maakah. They made their camp all around the city. They built heaps of earth against the city's walls. They started to dig holes through the walls to cause them to fall down. 16 Then a wise woman stood on the wall and she shouted to them, ‘Listen! Listen to me! Tell Joab to come near so that I can speak to him!’
17 So Joab went towards her. The woman asked him, ‘Are you Joab?’
He answered, ‘Yes, I am.’
She said to him, ‘Please listen to what I have to say.’
‘I am listening, so tell me,’ he replied.
18 Then she said, ‘A long time ago, people said, “If you want an answer to your problem, go to Abel city.” So that is what people did when they had problems. 19 The people of this city like to live in peace. We are faithful to our nation, Israel. Have you decided to destroy such an important city in Israel? Why do you want to destroy a city that belongs to the Lord?’
20 Joab answered her, ‘That is stupid! I would never do that! I am not trying to destroy anything. 21 That is not what we want. But there is a man in your city whose name is Sheba. He is Bicri's son and he comes from the hill country of Ephraim. He has turned against King David. If you will give me this one man, I will go away from your city. I will not destroy it.’
The woman said to Joab, ‘Wait there! I will throw his head to you from the wall.’
22 Then the woman spoke to all the people in the city. She told them her wise advice. So they cut off Sheba's head and they threw it off the wall to Joab.
Then Joab made a loud noise with his trumpet. So his soldiers went away from the city. Each of them went to his own home. Joab returned to King David in Jerusalem.
David's officers
23 Joab was the officer who led all Israel's army.
Jehoiada's son Benaiah was the leader of the king's personal guards.[f]
24 Adoniram ruled over the men who had to work for the king.
Ahilud's son Jehoshaphat wrote a report of everything that the king did.
25 Sheva was the royal secretary.
Zadok and Abiathar were the priests.
26 Ira from Jair was David's special priest.
The Gibeonites punish Saul's descendants
21 While David was king, there was a famine in Israel for three years. So David asked the Lord what had caused this trouble. The Lord said, ‘Saul's family is guilty of murder, because Saul killed many of the Gibeonites.’
2 The Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel. They were the only Amorite people who still lived. The Israelites had promised not to kill them.[g] But Saul thought that he should kill them. He thought that this would help Israel and Judah to rule their land.
Now King David told the Gibeonites to come to speak with him. 3 He asked them, ‘What can I do to help you? How can I make things right between us? I want you to bring the Lord's blessing to his people again.’
4 The Gibeonites answered David, ‘We do not want Saul's family to give us money or gold. And it would not be right for us to kill anyone in Israel.’
So David asked them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
5 They answered the king, ‘You know that Saul tried to destroy us. That man wanted to kill all of our family who were living in Israel. 6 So we want you to give us seven of his male descendants. Then we will kill them. We will hang their bodies at the place where people worship the Lord in Gibeah. That was Saul's town, the man that the Lord had chosen to be king.’
The king said, ‘I will give them to you.’
7 The king did not give Jonathan's son Mephibosheth to them. He was kind to Mephibosheth because of David's promise to Jonathan, Saul's son. David had made that promise in the Lord's name. 8 Instead, the king took Saul's two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth. Aiah's daughter Rizpah was their mother. He also took the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab. Adriel, the son of Barzillai from Meholath, was their father. 9 He gave them to the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites hanged them on a hill where people worshipped the Lord. All seven of them died together. That happened at the time when the barley harvest was beginning.
10 Aiah's daughter, Rizpah, put sackcloth on a rock and she sat on it. She stayed there to watch her sons' bodies, from the harvest time until the heavy rain came. During that time, she stopped the birds from eating the bodies in the daytime. At night, she kept the wild animals away.
11 They told David what Saul's slave wife, Rizpah, had done. 12 Then David went to fetch the bones of Saul and Saul's son Jonathan from the people at Jabesh Gilead. Their men had secretly taken their bodies from the open place in Beth Shan. The Philistines had killed Saul on Gilboa mountain and they had hung their bodies there.[h] 13 Now David brought the bones of Saul and Jonathan back from Jabesh Gilead. He also picked up the bones of the seven men that the Gibeonites had killed.
14 People buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the grave of Saul's father, Kish. The grave was in Zela, in land that belonged to Benjamin's tribe. The king had told them everything that they should do. After they had done all these things, God answered their prayers for their country.
Wars against the Philistines
15 Now the Philistines had started to attack the Israelites again. David went with his soldiers to fight against the Philistines. He became very tired. 16 A descendant of Rapha who was called Ishbi-Benob said that he would kill David. He had a bronze spear that weighed 3½ kilograms and he had a new sword. 17 But Zeruiah's son Abishai saved David. Abishai knocked down the Philistine and he killed him. So David's men said very strongly, ‘Our king, you must never again come out with us to fight a battle. You are like Israel's light. We do not want your life to finish.’[i]
18 Some time after that, the Israelites fought a battle against the Philistines at Gob. In that battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, a descendant of Rapha.
19 In another battle against the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan, the son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem, killed Goliath from Gath. Goliath's spear was very thick and heavy, like a big tree.
20 There was another battle at Gath. Another descendant of Rapha fought against the Israelites there. He was a very large man. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. 21 He shouted to insult the Israelite soldiers. So Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimeah, killed him.
22 Those four Philistines were descendants of Rapha and they lived in Gath. David and his soldiers killed all of them.[j]
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