f Josh. 7. 26. g Gen. 14. 17. 15 And ten young men that bare Joab's armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him. | David's grief for Absalom. And he came apace, and 26 And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. B. C. 1023. 27 And the watchman said, † Me-t Heb. I see the running. thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. be to thee. Heb. Peace. 28 And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And Or, Peace he fell down to the earth upon his 16 And Joab blew the trumpet, and face before the king, and said, Blessthe people returned from pursuinged be the LORD thy God, which hath after Israel for Joab held back the delivered up the men that lifted +Heb.shut up. people. up their hand against my lord the king. 17 And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him and all Israel fled every one to his tent. h 18 ¶ Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: h See ch. 14.27. for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place. + Heb. judged him from the hand, &c. + Heb. be a man of tidings. + Heb. be what may. || Or, convenient? 19 ¶ Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD hath † avenged him of his enemies. 20 And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. 21 Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. 33 ¶ And the king was much moved, 22 Then said Ahimaaz the son of 23 But howsoever, said he, let me CHAPTER XIX. 9 The Israelites are earnest to bring the king back. 11 David sendeth to incite the men of Judah. 18 Shimei is pardoned. 24 Mephibosheth is restored to his possessions in part. 32 Barzillai's kindness is remembered. 41 The Israelites expostulate with Judah for bringing home the king without them. 24 And David sat between the two AND it was told Joab, Behold, the i i 2 Kings 9. 17. gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. 25 And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. 2 And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. 3 And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people k ch. 19. 4. + Heb. salvation, or, de liverance. a ver. 32. B. C. 1023. being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. b ch. 15. 30. c ch. 18. 33. + Heb. By loving, &c. + Heb. that princes or servants are not to thee. + Heb. to the heart of thy servants, d ch. 15. 14. b 4 But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son! 5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; 6 + In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. 7 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak† comfortably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. 8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent. 9 ¶ And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is dfled out of the land for Absalom. 10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now + Heb. are ye therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? silent? e ch. 5. 1. f ch. 17. 25. g Ruth 1. 17. h Judg. 20. 1. 11 ¶ And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house. 12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? 13 ' And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab. h 14 And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants. Shimei is pardoned. i 15 So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to 1 Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan. k 16 ¶ And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. B. C. 1023. i Josh. 5. 9. ch. 16. 5. 1 Kings 2. 8. & 16. 1, 2. 17 And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and 1Ziba the1 ch. 9. 2, 10. servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king. 18 And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Heb. the Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; 19 And said unto the king, m Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember "that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. 23 Therefore the king said unto t1 Kings 2. 8, Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him. 24 T And "Mephibosheth the son of u ch. 9. 6. Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. 25 And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with ch. 16. 17. me, Mephibosheth? eyes. 28 For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king: ayet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? 29 And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land. 30 And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house. 31 ¶ And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct him over Jordan. 32 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. 33 And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. 34 And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Je rusalem ? d 35 I am this day fourscore years old and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? 36 Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward? 37 Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. e Sheba maketh a party in Israel. and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel. B. C. 1023. 41 ¶ And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king, and his house- g ver. 15. hold, and all David's men with him, over Jordan? 42 And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is h near of kin to us: where- h ver. 12. fore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king's cost? or hath he given us any gift? + 43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. CHAPTER XX. i Sheba maketh a party in Israel. 3 David's ten concubines are put in ward unto the day of their death. 4 Amasa, made captain over Judah, is slain by Joab. 14 Joab pursueth Sheba unto Abel. 16 A wise woman saveth the city by Sheba's head. 23 David's officers. AND there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, a We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel. b 2 So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem. 3 T And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in tward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood. t + Heb. set us at light. iSee Judg. 8. 1. & 12. 1. about 1022. a ch. 19. 43. b1 Kings 12. 16. 2 Chr. 10. 16. c ch. 15. 16. & 16. 21, 22. Heb. a house of ward. + Heb. bound. + Heb. in widowhood of life. + Heb. Call. 4 T Then said the king to Amasa, td Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here à ch. 19. 13. | 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 shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue e ch. 11. 11. 1 Kings 1.33. Amasa slain by Joab. after him, lest he get him fenced were wont to speak in old time, saycities, and escape us. 7 And there went out after him Joab's men, and the f Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. k 2 Kings 15. 29. 2 Chr. 16.4. 1 2 Kings 19. 32. || Or, it stood against the outmost wall. +Heb.marred to throw 11 And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. 12 And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. 13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. 14 ↑ And he went through all the B. C. ing, They shall surely ask counsel at about 1022. Abel: and so they ended the matter. 19 I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up m 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. m 1 Sam. 26. 19. ch. 21. 3. name. 21 The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri †by name, hath lifted up his† Heb. by his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, 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 Ecc. 9. 14,15. cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired + Heb. were from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. scattered 23 ↑ Now Joab was over all theo ch. 8. 16, 18. host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites: q ch. 16. 24 And Adoram was Pover the trib-P1 Kings 4. 6. ute: and Jehoshaphat the son of 1 Kings Ahilud was recorder : tribes of Israel unto *Abel, and todays of David three years, year Beth-maachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. 15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maachah, and they 1cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench and all the people that were with Joab + battered the wall, to throw it down. 16 ¶ Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. 17 And when he was come near unto || Or, They plainly spake her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? in the beginning, saying, And he answered, I am he. Then Surely they she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. will ask of Abel, and so make an end. See Deut. 20. 11. 4. 3. || Or, remembrancer. r ch. 8. 17. 1 Kings 4. 4. || Or, a prince. Gen. 41. 45. Ex. 2. 16. ch. 8. 18. 8 ch. 23. 38. 1021. the face, &c. See Num. 27. 21. after year; and David inquired of † Heb. sought the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. a 2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the a Josh. 9.3, 15, Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah ;) 3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? b 4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, 18 Then she spake, saying, "They We will have no silver nor gold of 16, 17. b ch. 20. 19. Or, It is not silvernor gold that we have to do with Saul or his house, neither pertains it to us to kill, &c. |