1 There happened to be a worthless man there named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. He sounded the horn and said, "We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse's son! Every man to his tents, Israel!"
2 So all the men of Israel went up from following David and followed Sheba son of Bichri, but the men of Judah stuck by their king, from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
3 David came to his palace in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to look after the house and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them but did not sleep with them; they were shut away until the day they died, living as widows.
4 The king told Amasa, "Summon the men of Judah to me within three days, and be here yourself."
5 Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time set for him.
6 David told Abishai, "Now Sheba son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord's servants and go after him, or he will find fortified towns for himself and slip out of our sight."
7 Joab's men set out after him, with the Cherethites and Pelethites and all the mighty men; they left Jerusalem to go after Sheba son of Bichri.
8 They were at the great stone in Gibeon when Amasa came to meet them. Joab was dressed in his military tunic, with a belt over it and a sword in its sheath strapped to his hip; as he stepped forward, it slipped out.
9 Joab said to Amasa, "Are you well, my brother?" And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
10 Amasa paid no attention to the sword in Joab's hand, and Joab stabbed him in the belly with it and spilled his insides on the ground. He did not strike him a second time, and he died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai went after Sheba son of Bichri.
11 One of Joab's young men stood by him and called, "Whoever is on Joab's side and whoever is for David, follow Joab!"
12 Amasa lay writhing in his blood in the middle of the road, and when the man saw that all the troops were stopping, he dragged Amasa off the road into the field and threw a cloak over him, since he saw that everyone who came up to him stopped.
13 Once he had been moved off the road, everyone went on after Joab in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri.
14 Sheba went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth-maacah, and all the Berites assembled and went in after him too.
15 They came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They threw up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer wall, and all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to bring it down.
16 A wise woman called out from the city, "Listen, listen! Tell Joab, please, 'Come over here so I can speak with you.'"
17 He came over to her, and the woman asked, "Are you Joab?" He said, "I am." She told him, "Hear what your servant has to say." He said, "I am listening."
18 She said, "In the old days people used to say, 'Let them just ask at Abel,' and that would settle it.
19 I am one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the LORD's inheritance?"
20 Joab answered, "Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!
21 That is not how it is. A man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba son of Bichri by name, has lifted his hand against the king, against David. Hand him over, him alone, and I will leave the city." The woman told Joab, "His head will be thrown to you over the wall."
22 The woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. He sounded the horn, and they scattered from the city, each man to his tent, and Joab went back to the king at Jerusalem.
23 Joab was over the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites;
24 Adoram was over the forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;
25 Sheva was scribe; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
26 and Ira the Jairite was also David's priest.