2 Samuel 20 - 24 — Legacy Standard Bible

Sheba Goes Up Against David

20Now ^aa vile fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of ^bBichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet and said, “^cWe have no portion in David,Nor do we have inheritance in ^dthe son of Jesse;^eEvery man to his tents, O Israel!”

²So all the men of Israel went up from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah clung to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

³Then David came to his house at Jerusalem, and ^athe king took the ten women, the concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and placed them under guard and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as widows.

⁴Then the king said to ^aAmasa, “Call out the men of Judah for me within three days, and you yourself stand here.” ⁵So Amasa went to call out the men of Judah, but he ^adelayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him. ⁶And David said to ^aAbishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom; ^btake your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he find for himself fortified cities and deliver himself from our sight.” ⁷So Joab’s men pursued him, ^aalong with the Cherethites and the Pelethites and all the mighty men; and they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸They were at the large stone which is in ^aGibeon, and Amasa came ¹to meet them. Now Joab was ²dressed in his military attire, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened at his ³waist; and as he came out, it fell out. ⁹Then Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And ^aJoab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

Joab Strikes Amasa

¹⁰But Amasa was not on guard against the sword which was in Joab’s hand so ^ahe struck him in the belly with it and poured out his inward parts on the ground, and did not strike him again, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹Now there stood by him one of Joab’s young men, and said, “Whoever delights in Joab and whoever is for David, ^alet him follow Joab.” ¹²But Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. And the man saw that all the people stood still. So he ¹removed Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still.

The Beheading of Sheba

¹³As soon as he was removed from the highway, all the men passed on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴Now he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, even Beth-maacah, and all the Berites; and they were assembled and also came after him. ¹⁵So they came and besieged him in ^aAbel Beth-maacah, and ^bthey ¹cast up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood by the rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction in order to cause the wall to fall. ¹⁶Then ^aa wise woman called from the city, “Hear, hear! Please tell Joab, ‘Draw near that I may speak with you.’” ¹⁷So he drew near to her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” And he answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” ¹⁸Then she spoke, saying, “Formerly they used to speak in this way, saying, ‘They will surely ask advice at Abel,’ and thus they ended the dispute. ¹⁹“I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. ^aYou are seeking to put to death a city, even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up ^bthe inheritance of Yahweh?” ²⁰And Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy! ²¹“Such is not the case. But a man from ^athe hill country of Ephraim, ^bSheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give him over alone, and I will go from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” ²²Then the woman came to all the people in her ^awisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So ^bhe blew the trumpet, and they were scattered from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.

²³^aNow Joab was over the whole army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; ²⁴and Adoram was over the forced labor, and ^aJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; ²⁵and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and ^aAbiathar were priests; ²⁶and Ira the Jairite was also a priest to David.

David Gives Saul’s Sons to the Gibeonites

21And there was ^aa famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and ^bDavid sought the presence of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, “It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and ^athe sons of Israel ¹made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). ³Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless ^athe inheritance of Yahweh?” ⁴Then the Gibeonites said to him, “^aWe have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” ⁵So they said to the king, “^aThe man who consumed us and who planned ¹to eradicate us from standing within any border of Israel, ⁶let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will ¹hang them ^abefore Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, ^bthe chosen of Yahweh.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared ^aMephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, ^bbecause of the oath of Yahweh which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. ⁸So the king took the two sons of ^aRizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of ¹^,^bMerab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the ^cMeholathite. ⁹Then he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they ¹hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at ^athe beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰^aAnd Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until ¹it rained on them from the sky; and ^bshe ²allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹Then it was told to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. ¹²So David went and took ^athe bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of ^bBeth-shan, ^cwhere the Philistines had hanged them on the day ^dthe Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa. ¹³And he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been ¹hanged. ¹⁴Then they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in ^aZela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and afterwards ^bGod was moved by the entreaty for the land.

War with the Philistines

¹⁵And ^athe Philistines were at war again with Israel, so David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. ¹⁶Then Ishbi-benob, who was ^aamong those born to the ¹giants, the weight of whose spear was ²three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, ³was girded with a new sword, and he ⁴intended to strike down David. ¹⁷But ^aAbishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “^bYou shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish ^cthe lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸^aNow it happened afterwards that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then ^bSibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among those born to the ¹giants. ¹⁹There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down ¹Goliath the Gittite, ^athe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰Then there was war at Gath again, and there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born ^ato the ¹giants. ²¹And he ¹reproached Israel, so Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. ²²^aThese four were born to the ¹giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

David’s Song of Deliverance

22^aAnd David spoke to Yahweh ^bthe words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the ¹hand of all his enemies and from the ²hand of Saul. ²He said, “^aYahweh is my ¹rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

³¹^,^aMy God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,My ^bshield and ^cthe horn of my salvation, my stronghold and ^dmy refuge;My savior, You save me from violence.⁴“I call upon Yahweh, ^awho is worthy to be praised,And I am saved from my enemies.⁵“For ^athe waves of death encompassed me;^bThe torrents of ¹vileness terrorized me;⁶^aThe cords of Sheol surrounded me;The snares of death confronted me.⁷“^aIn my distress I called upon Yahweh,And I called to my God;And out of His temple He heard my voice,And my cry for help came into His ears.⁸“Then ^athe earth shook and quaked;^bThe foundations of heaven were tremblingAnd were shaken, because He was angry.⁹“Smoke went up ¹out of His nostrils,^aAnd fire from His mouth devoured;^bCoals were kindled by it.¹⁰“He bowed the heavens and came downWith ^athick darkness under His feet.¹¹“^aHe rode on a cherub and flew;And He ¹appeared upon ^bthe wings of the wind.¹²“^aAnd He made darkness ¹canopies around Him,A mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies.¹³“From the brightness before Him^aCoals of fire were kindled.¹⁴“^aYahweh thundered from heaven,And the Most High gave forth His voice.¹⁵“^aAnd He sent out arrows, and scattered them,Lightning, and ¹threw them into confusion.¹⁶“Then the channels of the sea appeared,The foundations of the world were ¹laid bareBy the rebuke of Yahweh,^aAt the blast of the breath of His nostrils.¹⁷“^aHe sent from on high, He took me;^bHe drew me out of many waters.¹⁸“He delivered me from my strong enemy,From those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.¹⁹“They confronted me in the day of my disaster,^aBut Yahweh was my support.²⁰“^aHe brought me forth also into a broad place;He rescued me, ^bbecause He delighted in me.²¹“^aYahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness;^bAccording to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.²²“^aFor I have kept the ways of Yahweh,And have not wickedly departed from my God.²³“^aFor all His ¹judgments were before me,And as for His statutes, I did not depart from ²them.²⁴“^aI was also ¹blameless toward Him,And I kept myself from my iniquity.²⁵“^aTherefore Yahweh has recompensed me according to my righteousness,According to my cleanness before His eyes.²⁶“^aWith the ¹kind You show Yourself ²kind,With the ³blameless You show Yourself ⁴blameless;²⁷^aWith the pure You show Yourself pure,^bAnd with the crooked You show Yourself ¹astute.²⁸“^aAnd You save an afflicted people;^bBut Your eyes are on the haughty whom You bring down.²⁹“^aFor You are my lamp, O Yahweh;And Yahweh illumines my darkness.³⁰“^aFor by You I can ¹run upon a troop;By my God I can leap over a wall.³¹“^aAs for God, His way is ¹blameless;^bThe word of Yahweh is ²tried;^cHe is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.³²“^aFor who is God, but Yahweh?^bAnd who is a rock, but our God?³³“^aGod is my strong fortress;And He ¹sets the ²blameless in ³His way.³⁴“^aHe makes ¹my feet like hinds’ feet,^bAnd sets me on my high places.³⁵“^aHe trains my hands for battle,^bSo that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.³⁶“You have also given me ^athe shield of Your salvation,And Your answer to me makes me great.³⁷“^aYou enlarge my steps under me,And my ankles have not given way.³⁸“I pursued my enemies and ^adestroyed them,And I did not turn back until they were consumed.³⁹“And I have consumed them and crushed them, so that they did not rise;And ^athey fell under my feet.⁴⁰“For You have girded me with strength for battle;You have ¹subdued under me ^athose who rose up against me.⁴¹“¹You have also ^amade my enemies turn their backs to me,And I ²destroyed those who hated me.⁴²“^aThey looked, but there was none to save;^bEven to Yahweh, but He did not answer them.⁴³“^aThen I beat them fine as the dust of the earth;^bI pulverized and stamped them as the mire of the streets.⁴⁴“^aYou have also delivered me from the contentions of my people;^bYou have kept me as head of the nations;^cA people whom I have not known serve me.⁴⁵“^aForeigners cower before me;As soon as they hear, they obey me.⁴⁶“Foreigners fade away,^aAnd ¹come trembling out of their ²fortresses.⁴⁷“Yahweh lives, and blessed be my rock;And let ¹^,^aGod, the rock of my salvation, be lifted high,⁴⁸^aThe God who executes vengeance for me,^bAnd brings down peoples under me,⁴⁹Who also brings me out from my enemies;You even lift me above ^athose who rise up against me;^bYou rescue me from the violent man.⁵⁰“^aTherefore I will give thanks to You, O Yahweh, among the nations,And I will sing praises to Your name.⁵¹“^aHe ¹gives great salvation to His king,And ^bshows lovingkindness to His anointed,^cTo David and his seed forever.”

David’s Last Words

23Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares,^aThe man who was raised on high declares,^bThe anointed of the God of Jacob,And the sweet psalmist of Israel,

²“^aThe Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me,And His word was on my tongue.³“The God of Israel said,^aThe Rock of Israel spoke to me,‘^bHe who rules over men as a righteous one,^cWho rules in the fear of God,⁴^aIs as the light of the morning when the sun rises,A morning without clouds,From brightness of the sun after rain.’With the tender grass springing from the earth,⁵¹Truly is not my house so with God?For ^aHe has made an everlasting covenant with me,Ordered in all things, and secured;For all my salvation and all my desire,Will He not indeed make it grow?⁶“^aBut the vile men, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns,Because they cannot be taken in hand;⁷But the man who touches themMust be ¹armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,And ^athey will be completely burned with fire where they sit.”

David’s Mighty Men

⁸^aThese are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the ¹captains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time; ⁹and after him was Eleazar the son of ^aDodo the ^bson of Ahohi, one of the three mighty men with David when they ¹reproached the Philistines who were gathered together there to battle and the men of Israel had gone up to retreat. ¹⁰^aHe arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and ¹clung to the sword, and ^bYahweh brought about a great salvation that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a ^aHararite. And the Philistines were gathered ¹into a troop where there was a portion of the field full of lentils; and the people fled from before the Philistines. ¹²But he took his stand in the midst of that portion and delivered it and struck down the Philistines. So ^aYahweh brought about a great salvation.

¹³Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the ^acave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in ^bthe valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴And David was then ^ain the fortress, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵^aThen David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” ¹⁶^aSo the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he was not willing to drink it, but ^bpoured it out to Yahweh; ¹⁷and he said, “Be it far from me, O Yahweh, that I should do this. ^aShall I drink the blood of the men who went ¹at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he was not willing to drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸^aNow Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was ^bchief of the ¹thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred ²who were slain by him; and he had a name as well as the three. ¹⁹Of the thirty he was most honored and became their commander; however, he did not attain to the three.

²⁰Then ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of ^bKabzeel, mighty in deeds, struck down the ¹two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. ²¹He had also struck down an Egyptian, ¹an impressive man. Now in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²²These things ^aBenaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. ²³He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.

²⁴^aAsahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵^aShammah the ^bHarodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the ^aTekoite, ²⁷Abiezer the ^aAnathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the ^aNetophathite, ²⁹^aHeleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of ^bGibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah a ^aPirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of ^bGaash, ³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the ^aBarhumite, ³²Eliahba the ^aShaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ³³^aShammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of ^athe Maacathite, ^bEliam the son of ^cAhithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵^aHezro the ^bCarmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of ^aZobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the ^aBeerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the ^aIthrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹^aUriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

David Sins in Taking a Census

24^aAnd ^bagain the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “^cGo, number Israel and Judah.” ²So the king said to Joab the commander of the military force who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^afrom Dan to Beersheba, and ¹take a census of the people, that I may know the total count of the people.” ³But Joab said to the king, “^aNow may Yahweh your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word stood strong against Joab and against the commanders of the military force. So Joab and the commanders of the military force went out from the presence of the king to ¹take a census of the people of Israel. ⁵And they crossed the Jordan and camped in ^aAroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward ^bJazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead and to ¹the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ^aSidon, ⁷and came to the ^afortified city of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^bHivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ^cBeersheba. ⁸So they had gone about through the whole land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave ^athe total count of the ¹census of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ^b800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.

¹⁰Then ^aDavid’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. So David said to Yahweh, “^bI have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, please ¹take away the iniquity of Your slave, for ^cI have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹Then David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to ^athe prophet Gad, David’s ^bseer, saying, ¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.”’” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^aseven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, know and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, ^afor His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So ^aYahweh ¹sent a pestilence against Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 men of the people ^bfrom Dan to Beersheba died. ¹⁶^aThen the angel sent forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and ^bYahweh ¹relented of the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷Then David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, ^ait is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done unrighteousness; but ^bthese sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and my father’s house.”

David Erects an Altar

¹⁸So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^aGo up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of ¹Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up according to the word of Gad, just as Yahweh had commanded. ²⁰And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. ²¹Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh, ^athat the plague may be checked from being upon the people.” ²²And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, ^athe oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³“Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God ^aaccept you.” ²⁴However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for ^aI will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God ¹which cost me nothing.” So ^bDavid bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty ²shekels of silver. ²⁵Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^aThus Yahweh was moved by the entreaty for the land, and the plague was checked from being upon Israel.