1 Also it befelled, that a man of Belial was there, Sheba by name, the son of Bichri, a man of the generation of Benjamin; and he sounded with a trump, and said, No part is to us in David, neither heritage in the son of Jesse; thou Israel, turn again into thy tabernacles.

2 And all Israel was parted from David, and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri; and the men of Judah cleaved to their king, from Jordan till to Jerusalem.

3 And when the king had come into his house in Jerusalem, he took [the] ten women, his secondary wives, which he had left to keep the house, and he betook them into keeping, and gave meat to them; and he entered not [in] to them; but they were enclosed till to the day of their death, and lived in widowhood.

4 And David said to Amasa, Call thou together to me all the men of Judah into the third day, and be thou present.

5 Therefore Amasa went forth, that he call together the people of Judah; and he dwelled over the covenanted time, which the king had set to him.

6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, shall torment us more than Absalom did; therefore take the servants of thy lord, and pursue him, lest in hap he find strengthened cities, and escape us.

7 Therefore the men of Joab went out with Abishai, and Cherethites and Pelethites, and all the strong men, went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri.

8 And when they were beside the great stone, which is in Gibeon, Amasa came, and ran to them; and Joab was clothed with a strait coat at the measure of his shape, and he was girded above with a sword hanging down unto his entrails in a sheath; and it went out, and felled down.

9 And so Joab said to Amasa, Hail, my brother! And Joab held with his right hand the chin of Amasa, as kissing him.

10 Forsooth Amasa took not keep of the sword, which sword Joab had, and Joab smote Amasa in the side, and shedded out his entrails into the earth, and Amasa was dead; and Joab added not the second wound. And Joab, and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri.

11 In the meantime, when some of the children of David, of the fellows of Joab, had stood beside the dead body of Amasa, they said, Lo! he that would be the fellow of David, be for Joab.

12 And Amasa was besprinkled with blood, and lay in the middle of the way. Some man saw this, that all the people abode to see Amasa, and he removed Amasa from the way into the field, and he covered Amasa with a cloth, lest men passing by should abide [still] for him.

13 Therefore when he was removed from the way, each man passed forth, pursuing [or following] Joab to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri.

14 Forsooth Sheba had passed by all the lineages of Israel till into Abel, and into Bethmaacah; and all the chosen men were gathered to him.

15 Therefore they came, and fought against him in Abel, and in Beth-maacah, and encompassed the city with strongholds; and the city was besieged. And all the company, that was with Joab, enforced or endeav-oured to destroy the walls.

16 And a wise woman of the city cried on high, Hear ye! hear ye! say ye to Joab, Nigh thou hither, and I shall speak with thee.

17 And when he had nighed to her, she said to him, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am. To whom she spake thus, Hear thou the words of thine handmaid. Joab answered, I hear.

18 And again she said, A word was said in eld [or old] proverb, They that ask, ask in Abel; and so they profited.

19 Whether I am not, that answer truth to Israel? and seekest thou to destroy a city, and to do away a mother city in Israel*The woman speaketh in the person of the city, as if she said, ‘This city held ever truth and faith to the king’; and therefore in Hebrew it is thus, ‘I am one of peaceable and true’, that is, one of the number of cities that be peaceable and true to the king.? why castedest or throwest thou down the heritage of the Lord?

20 And Joab answered, and said, Far be, far be this from me; I cast not down, neither I destroy.

21 The thing hath not so itself; but a man of the hill of Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri, by surname, raised his hand against king David; betake ye him alone to us, and we shall go away from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Lo! his head shall be sent to thee by the wall.

22 Then the woman went in to all the people, and she spake to them wisely; and they threw out to Joab the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, girded off. And Joab sounded with a trump, and they departed from the city, each man into his tabernacles; and Joab turned again to Jerusalem to the king.

23 Therefore Joab was on all the host of Israel; forsooth Benaiah, [the] son of Jehoiada, was on Cherethites and Pelethites;

24 and Adoram was upon the tributes; and Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was chancellor;

25 and Sheva was scribe; but Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

26 and Ira of Jairites was the priest of David.