Chronological
19 ¶ And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.
2 And that day the salvation was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day how the king was grieved for his son.
3 And the people entered by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
4 But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!
5 And Joab entering into the house of the king, said unto him, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy slaves, who this day have saved thy life and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters and the lives of thy wives and the lives of thy concubines,
6 by loving those who hate thee and hating thy friends. For thou hast declared this day that thou dost not regard thy princes nor thy slaves. For this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and we had all died today, then this would be right in thine eyes.
7 Now, therefore, arise, go forth and speak unto the heart of thy slaves, for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, not one of them will abide with thee tonight and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that has come upon thee from thy youth until now.
8 Then the king arose and sat in the gate. And it was declared unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king sits in the gate. And all the people came before the king, but Israel had fled every man to his tent.
9 ¶ And all the people were in contention throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land for Absalom.
10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now, therefore, why are ye silent regarding bringing the king back?
11 And King David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why shall ye be the last to bring the king back to his house? Seeing that the word of all Israel has come to the king, to return him to his house.
12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh; why then are ye the last to bring back the king?
13 Likewise say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone and of my flesh? God do so to me and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the place of Joab.
14 And he inclined the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man, so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou and all thy slaves.
15 So the king returned and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over the Jordan.
16 ¶ And Shimei, the son of Gera, son of Jemini, who was of Bahurim, hastened and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
17 And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him; likewise Ziba, the slave of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and his twenty slaves with him, who went over the Jordan before the king.
18 Then the ferry boat went over to carry over the king’s household and to do what he desired. Then Shimei, the son of Gera, fell down before the king, as he was passing the Jordan,
19 And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither retain the memory of the wickedness that thy slave did the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should guard it in his heart.
20 For I, thy slave, know that I have sinned; therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
21 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?
22 Then David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? Shall anyone be put to death today in Israel? Do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?
23 And the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king swore unto him.
24 ¶ Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, also came down to meet the king and had neither washed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.
25 And after he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said unto him, Why didst thou not go with me, Mephibosheth?
26 And he answered, My lord, O king, my slave deceived me, for thy slave said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride upon it and go to the king because thy slave is lame.
27 And he has slandered thy slave unto my lord the king, but my lord the king is as an angel of God; do therefore what is good in thine eyes.
28 For all of my father’s house were worthy of death before my lord the king; yet thou didst set thy slave among those that eat at thy own table. What righteousness, therefore, have I yet to cry any more unto the king?
29 And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more words? I have determined, Thou and Ziba divide the land.
30 And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Let him even take it all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.
31 ¶ Barzillai, the Gileadite, also came down from Rogelim and went over the Jordan with the king to conduct him over the Jordan.
32 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, of eighty years, who had provided the king with sustenance while he was at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man.
33 And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.
34 And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem?
35 I am this day eighty years old, and shall I tell the difference between the good and the bad? Shall thy slave enjoy what I eat or what I drink? Shall I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should thy slave be yet a burden unto my lord the king?
36 Thy slave will go a little way over the Jordan with the king, and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward?
37 Let thy slave, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in my own city and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy slave Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king, and do to him what shall seem good unto thee.
38 And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do with him that which shall seem good unto thee, and whatever thou shalt ask of me, that will I do for thee.
39 And all the people went over the Jordan. And when the king had also come over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned unto his own place.
40 ¶ Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him; and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel.
41 And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah, stolen thee away and have brought the king and his household and all David’s men with him, over the Jordan?
42 And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then are ye angry for this matter? Have we eaten anything at the king’s cost? Or has he given us any gift?
43 Then the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye; why then did ye not take us into account? Did we not speak first about bringing back our king? But in the end words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
20 ¶ And a man of Belial happened to be there, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a man of Jemini, and he blew the shofar, saying, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel.
2 So all the men of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah cleaved unto their king from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.
3 And when David came to his house at Jerusalem, the king took the ten women, his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward and fed them, but did not go in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.
4 ¶ Then the king said to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah for the third day, and be thou here present.
5 So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, shall do us more harm than Absalom; take thou thy lord’s slaves and pursue after him lest he find fenced cities and escape us.
7 Then Joab’s men went out after him, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men; and they went out of Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba, the son of Bichri.
8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came out and met them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in its sheath, and as he went forth, it fell out.
9 And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in peace, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
10 But Amasa took no heed of the sword that was in Joab’s hand; and he smote him with it in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued after Sheba, the son of Bichri.
11 And one of Joab’s servants stood by him, and said, He that favours Joab and he that is for David, let him go after Joab.
12 And Amasa had wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field and cast a garment upon him because he saw that every one that came by him stopped.
13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people that followed Joab passed on, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
14 ¶ And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel and to Bethmaachah and all the Berites; and they were gathered together and also went after him.
15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and the people went against the wall; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.
16 Then a wise woman cried out in the city, Hear, hear, I pray you, tell Joab to come here, that I may speak with him.
17 And when he had come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I hear.
18 Then she spoke, saying, They used to speak in old times, saying, If you have a question ask it at Abel; and so they concluded the matter.
19 I am one of those that are peaceable and faithful in Israel, and thou seekest to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel; why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy.
21 The matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri, by name, has lifted up his hand against King David; give only him over, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew the shofar, and they retired from the city, each one to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.
23 ¶ So Joab remained over all the host of Israel, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites;
24 and Adoram was over the tribute, and Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was writer of the chronicles,
25 and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests;
26 and Ira, the Jairite, was David’s priest.
21 ¶ Then there was a famine in the days of David for three consecutive years, and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is because of Saul and because of his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
2 And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them: (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).
3 Therefore, David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make reconciliation that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?
4 And the Gibeonites replied unto him, We have no quarrel regarding silver nor gold with Saul, nor with his house; neither do we desire that anyone in Israel should die. And he said unto them, What ye shall say that will I do for you.
5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us and that devised against us, let us destroy him that nothing of him remains in any of the borders of Israel.
6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will disjoint them, hanging them from a tree, unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she gave birth unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she had given birth unto Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite;
9 and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they disjointed them hanging them from a tree in the hill before the LORD; and they fell all seven together and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
10 ¶ And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water rained upon them out of heaven and allowed neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 And it was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12 Then David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the men of Jabeshgilead, who had stolen them from the plaza of Bethshan where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa;
13 and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son; and they gathered the bones of those that had been disjointed by being hanged from a tree,
14 and they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan, his son, in the land of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father; and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.
15 ¶ And the Philistines made war again with Israel; and David went down, and his slaves with him, and fought against the Philistines; and David became weary.
16 And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, and the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, was girded with a new sword and had determined to kill David.
17 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, helped David, and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore unto him, saying, From now on thou shalt not go out with us to battle that thou not quench the light of Israel.
18 And after this, there was a second war with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbechai, the Hushathite, slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.
19 And there was another war in Gob with the Philistines where Elhanan, the son of Jaareoregim of Bethlehem, slew Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20 And after that there was another war in Gath where there was a man of great stature, that had six fingers on every hand, and six toes on every foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was of the sons of the giant.
21 And when he dishonoured Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, the brother of David, slew him.
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his slaves.
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