2Sa 20, 2Sa 24 | ESV | STEP | Now there happened to be there a worthless man , whose name was Sheba , the son of Bichri , a Benjaminite . And he blew the trumpet and said , We have no portion in David , and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse ; every man to his tents , O Israel !

1 Now there happened to be there ^aa worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,

^b“We have no portion in David,
and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;
^cevery man to his tents, O Israel!”
2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took ^dthe ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

4 Then the king said to ^eAmasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take ^fyour lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.” ^{▼▼Hebrew and snatch away our eyes} 7 And there went out after him Joab’s men and the ^hCherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand ⁱto kiss him. 10 But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. ^jSo Joab struck him with it ^kin the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. 11 And one of Joab’s young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” 12 And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. 13 When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

14 And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to ^lAbel of ^mBeth-maacah, ^{▼▼Compare 20:15; Hebrew and Beth-maacah} and all ^othe Bichrites ^{▼▼Hebrew Berites} assembled and followed him in. 15 And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in ^qAbel of Beth-maacah. ^rThey cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down. 16 Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’” 17 And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” 18 Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at ^sAbel,’ and so they settled a matter. 19 I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you ^tswallow up ^uthe heritage of the Lord?” 20 Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should ^vswallow up or destroy! 21 That is not true. But a man of ^wthe hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.” 22 Then the woman went to all the people ^xin her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, ^yevery man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

23 ^zNow Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; 24 and ^aaAdoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; 25 and Sheva was secretary; and ^abZadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and ^acIra the Jairite was also David’s priest.

2 Samuel 24

David’s Census

1 ^ad, ^aeAgain the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ^af“Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, ^{▼▼Septuagint to Joab and the commanders of the army} who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, ^ahfrom Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, ^ai“May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and began from ^ajAroer, ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew encamped in Aroer} and from the city that is in the middle of the ^alvalley, toward Gad and on to ^amJazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew to the land of Tahtim-hodshi} and they came to Dan, and from Dan ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew they came to Dan-jaan and} they went around to ^apSidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^aqHivites and ^arCanaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men ^aswho drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

The Lord’s Judgment of David’s Sin

10 But ^atDavid’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ^au“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done ^avvery foolishly.” 11 And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^awthe prophet Gad, David’s ^axseer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer ^{▼▼Or hold over} you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^azthree ^{▼▼Compare 1 Chronicles 21:12, Septuagint; Hebrew seven} years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^bbfor his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

15 ^bcSo the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from ^bdDan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when ^bethe angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem ^bfto destroy it, ^bgthe Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel ^bhwho was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And ^bithe angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ^bjAraunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

David Builds an Altar

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^bkAraunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague ^blmay be averted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the ^bmthreshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God ^bnaccept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels ^{▼▼A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^bpSo the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.