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.