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¹There happened to be a troublemaker there named Sheba son of Bicri, a man from the tribe of Benjamin. Sheba blew a ram’s horn and began to chant: “Down with the dynasty of David! We have no interest in the son of Jesse. Come on, you men of Israel, back to your homes!”

²So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stayed with their king and escorted him from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.

³When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to look after the palace and placed them in seclusion. Their needs were provided for, but he no longer slept with them. So each of them lived like a widow until she died.

⁴Then the king told Amasa, “Mobilize the army of Judah within three days, and report back at that time.”

⁵So Amasa went out to notify Judah, but it took him longer than the time he had been given.

⁶Then David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bicri is going to hurt us more than Absalom did. Quick, take my troops and chase after him before he gets into a fortified town where we can’t reach him.”

⁷So Abishai and Joab, together with the king’s bodyguard and all the mighty warriors, set out from Jerusalem to go after Sheba.

⁸As they arrived at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa met them. Joab was wearing his military tunic with a dagger strapped to his belt. As he stepped forward to greet Amasa, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.

⁹“How are you, my cousin?” Joab said and took him by the beard with his right hand as though to kiss him.

¹⁰Amasa didn’t notice the dagger in his left hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it so that his insides gushed out onto the ground. Joab did not need to strike again, and Amasa soon died. Joab and his brother Abishai left him lying there and continued after Sheba.

¹¹One of Joab’s young men shouted to Amasa’s troops, “If you are for Joab and David, come and follow Joab.”

¹²But Amasa lay in his blood in the middle of the road, and Joab’s man saw that everyone was stopping to stare at him. So he pulled him off the road into a field and threw a cloak over him.

¹³With Amasa’s body out of the way, everyone went on with Joab to capture Sheba son of Bicri.

¹⁴Meanwhile, Sheba traveled through all the tribes of Israel and eventually came to the town of Abel-beth-maacah. All the members of his own clan, the Bicrites, assembled for battle and followed him into the town.

¹⁵When Joab’s forces arrived, they attacked Abel-beth-maacah. They built a siege ramp against the town’s fortifications and began battering down the wall.

¹⁶But a wise woman in the town called out to Joab, “Listen to me, Joab. Come over here so I can talk to you.”

¹⁷As he approached, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” “I am,” he replied. So she said, “Listen carefully to your servant.” “I’m listening,” he said.

¹⁸Then she continued, “There used to be a saying, ‘If you want to settle an argument, ask advice at the town of Abel.’

¹⁹I am one who is peace loving and faithful in Israel. But you are destroying an important town in Israel. Why do you want to devour what belongs to the LORD?”

²⁰And Joab replied, “Believe me, I don’t want to devour or destroy your town!

²¹That’s not my purpose. All I want is a man named Sheba son of Bicri from the hill country of Ephraim, who has revolted against King David. If you hand over this one man to me, I will leave the town in peace.” “All right,” the woman replied, “we will throw his head over the wall to you.”

²²Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice, and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and called his troops back from the attack. They all returned to their homes, and Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

²³Now Joab was the commander of the army of Israel. Benaiah son of Jehoiada was captain of the king’s bodyguard.

²⁴Adoniram was in charge of forced labor. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the royal historian.

²⁵Sheva was the court secretary. Zadok and Abiathar were the priests.

²⁶And Ira, a descendant of Jair, was David’s personal priest.

¹There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the LORD about it. And the LORD said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”

²So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.

³David asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD’s people again?”

⁴“Well, money can’t settle this matter between us and the family of Saul,” the Gibeonites replied. “Neither can we demand the life of anyone in Israel.” “What can I do then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”

⁵Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel.

⁶So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD at Gibeon, on the mountain of the LORD. ” “All right,” the king said, “I will do it.”

⁷The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the LORD.

⁸But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah.

⁹The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the LORD. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.

¹⁰Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night.

¹¹When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

¹²he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. (When the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, the people of Jabesh-gilead stole their bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them.)

¹³So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.

¹⁴Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land.

¹⁵Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted.

¹⁶Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants ; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him.

¹⁷But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”

¹⁸After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.

¹⁹During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!

²⁰In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants.

²¹But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.

²²These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.

¹David sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul.

²He sang: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;

³my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence.

⁴I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.

⁵“The waves of death overwhelmed me; floods of destruction swept over me.

⁶The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path.

⁷But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I cried to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.

⁸“Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the heavens shook; they quaked because of his anger.

⁹Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him.

¹⁰He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.

¹¹Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

¹²He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.

¹³A great brightness shone around him, and burning coals blazed forth.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

¹⁵He shot arrows and scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were confused.

¹⁶Then at the command of the LORD, at the blast of his breath, the bottom of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.

¹⁷“He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.

¹⁸He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.

¹⁹They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the LORD supported me.

²⁰He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.

²¹The LORD rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.

²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not turned from my God to follow evil.

²³I have followed all his regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees.

²⁴I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin.

²⁵The LORD rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.

²⁶“To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.

²⁷To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

²⁸You rescue the humble, but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.

²⁹O LORD, you are my lamp. The LORD lights up my darkness.

³⁰In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.

³¹“God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

³²For who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is a solid rock?

³³God is my strong fortress, and he makes my way perfect.

³⁴He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.

³⁵He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.

³⁶You have given me your shield of victory; your help has made me great.

³⁷You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.

³⁸“I chased my enemies and destroyed them; I did not stop until they were conquered.

³⁹I consumed them; I struck them down so they did not get up; they fell beneath my feet.

⁴⁰You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.

⁴¹You placed my foot on their necks. I have destroyed all who hated me.

⁴²They looked for help, but no one came to their rescue. They even cried to the LORD, but he refused to answer.

⁴³I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trampled them in the gutter like dirt.

⁴⁴“You gave me victory over my accusers. You preserved me as the ruler over nations; people I don’t even know now serve me.

⁴⁵Foreign nations cringe before me; as soon as they hear of me, they submit.

⁴⁶They all lose their courage and come trembling from their strongholds.

⁴⁷“The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock! May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!

⁴⁸He is the God who pays back those who harm me; he brings down the nations under me

⁴⁹and delivers me from my enemies. You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies; you save me from violent opponents.

⁵⁰For this, O LORD, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.

⁵¹You give great victories to your king; you show unfailing love to your anointed, to David and all his descendants forever.”