2Samuel:19-21

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* And it was told Joab , Behold , the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom . * 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 . * And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city , as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle . * But the king covered his face , and the king cried with a loud voice , O my son Absalom , O Absalom , my son , my son ! * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 fled out of the land for Absalom . * And Absalom , whom we anointed over us , is dead in battle . Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back ? * 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 . * Ye are my brethren , ye are my bones and my flesh : wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king ? * 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 . * 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 . * So the king returned , and came to Jordan . And Judah came to Gilgal , to go to meet the king , to conduct the king over Jordan . * 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 . * And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him , and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul , and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him ; and they went over Jordan before the king . * And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king 's household , and to do what he thought good . And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king , as he was come over Jordan ; * And said unto the king , 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 . * For thy servant doth know that I have sinned : therefore , behold , I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king . * But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said , Shall not Shimei be put to death for this , because he cursed the LORD 'S anointed ? * And David said , What have I to do with you , ye sons of Zeruiah , that ye should this day be adversaries unto me ? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel ? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel ? * Therefore the king said unto Shimei , Thou shalt not die . And the king sware unto him . * And Mephibosheth the son of 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 . * 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 me , Mephibosheth ? * And he answered , My lord , O king , my servant deceived me : for thy servant said , I will saddle me an ass , that I may ride thereon , and go to the king ; because thy servant is lame . * And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king ; but my lord the king is as an angel of God : do therefore what is good in thine eyes . * For all of my father 's house were but dead men before my lord the king : yet 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 ? * And the king said unto him , Why speakest thou any more of thy matters ? I have said , Thou and Ziba divide the land . * 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 . * And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim , and went over Jordan with the king , to conduct him over Jordan . * 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 . * And the king said unto Barzillai , Come thou over with me , and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem . * And Barzillai said unto the king , How long have I to live , that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem ? * 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 ? * Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king : and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward ? * 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 . * And the king answered , Chimham shall go over with me , and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee : and whatsoever thou shalt require of me , that will I do for thee . * And all the people went over Jordan . And when the king was come over , the king kissed Barzillai , and blessed him ; and he returned unto his own place . * Then the king went on to Gilgal , and Chimham went on with him : and all the people of Judah conducted the king , and also half the people of Israel . * 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 household , and all David 's men with him , over Jordan ? * And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel , Because the king is near of kin to us : wherefore then be ye angry for this matter ? have we eaten at all of the king 's cost ? or hath he given us any gift ? * 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 . * 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 , We have no part in David , neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : every man to his tents , O Israel . * 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 . * 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 ward , and fed them , but went not in unto them . So they were shut up unto the day of their death , living in widowhood . * Then said the king to Amasa , Assemble me the men of Judah within three days , and be thou here present . * So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah : but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him . * 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 after him , lest he get him fenced cities , and escape us . * And there went out after him Joab 's men , 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 . * When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon , Amasa went before 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 the sheath thereof ; and as he went forth it fell out . * And Joab said to Amasa , Art thou in health , my brother ? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him . * But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab 's hand : so he smote him therewith 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * When he was removed out of the highway , all the people went on after Joab , to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri . * And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel , and to Bethmaachah , and all the Berites : and they were gathered together , and went also after him . * And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah , and they cast 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 . * 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 . * And when he was 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 thine handmaid . And he answered , I do hear . * Then she spake , saying , They were wont to speak in old time , saying , They shall surely ask counsel at Abel : and so they ended the matter . * 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 the inheritance of the LORD ? * And Joab answered and said , Far be it , far be it from me , that I should swallow up or destroy . * The matter is not so : but a man of mount Ephraim , Sheba the son of Bichri by name , hath lifted up 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 . * 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 a trumpet , and they retired from the city , every man to his tent . And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king . * Now Joab was over all the host of Israel : and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites : * And Adoram was over the tribute : and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder : * And Sheva was scribe : and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests : * And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David . * Then there was a famine in the days of David three years , year after year ; and David enquired of the LORD . And the LORD answered , It is for Saul , and for his bloody house , because he slew the Gibeonites . * 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 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 .) * 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 ? * And the Gibeonites said unto him , We will have no silver nor gold of Saul , nor of his house ; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel . And he said , What ye shall say , that will I do for you . * And they answered the king , The man that consumed us , and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel , * Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us , and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul , whom the LORD did choose . And the king said , I will give them . * But the king spared Mephibosheth , the son of Jonathan the son of Saul , because of the LORD 'S oath that was between them , between David and Jonathan the son of Saul . * But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah , whom she bare unto Saul , Armoni and Mephibosheth ; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul , whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite : * And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites , and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD : and they fell all seven together , and were put to death in the days of harvest , in the first days , in the beginning of barley harvest . * And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth , and spread it for her upon the rock , from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven , and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day , nor the beasts of the field by night . * And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah , the concubine of Saul , had done . * And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead , which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan , where the Philistines had hanged them , when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa : * And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son ; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged . * And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah , in the sepulchre of Kish his father : and they performed all that the king commanded . And after that God was intreated for the land . * Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel ; and David went down , and his servants with him , and fought against the Philistines : and David waxed faint . * And Ishbibenob , which was of the sons of the giant , the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight , he being girded with a new sword , thought to have slain David . * But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him , and smote the Philistine , and killed him . Then the men of David sware unto him , saying , Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle , that thou quench not the light of Israel . * And it came to pass after this , that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob : then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph , which was of the sons of the giant . * And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines , where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim , a Bethlehemite , slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite , the staff of whose spear was like a weaver 's beam . * And there was yet a battle in Gath , where was a man of great stature , that had on every hand six fingers , and on every foot six toes , four and twenty in number ; and he also was born to the giant . * And when he defied Israel , Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him . * These four were born to the giant in Gath , and fell by the hand of David , and by the hand of his servants . * And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies , and out of the hand of Saul :

---