Sheba's Rebellion

¹There happened to be in Gilgal a worthless character named Sheba son of Bikri, of the tribe of Benjamin. He blew the trumpet and called out, “Down with David! We won't follow him! Men of Israel, let's go home!”

²So the Israelites deserted David and went with Sheba, but the men of Judah remained loyal and followed David from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³When David arrived at his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and put them under guard. He provided for their needs, but did not have intercourse with them. They were kept confined for the rest of their lives, living like widows.

⁴The king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together and be back here with them by the day after tomorrow.”

⁵Amasa went to call them, but he did not get back by the time the king had told him to.

⁶So the king said to Abishai, “Sheba will give us more trouble than Absalom. Take my men and go after him, or else he may occupy some fortified towns and escape from us.”

⁷So Joab's men, the royal bodyguards, and all the other soldiers left Jerusalem with Abishai to go after Sheba.

⁸When they reached the large rock at Gibeon, Amasa met them. Joab was dressed for battle, with a sword in its sheath fastened to his belt. As he came forward, the sword fell out.

⁹Joab said to Amasa, “How are you, my friend?” and took hold of his beard with his right hand in order to kiss him.

¹⁰Amasa was not on guard against the sword that Joab was holding in his other hand, and Joab stabbed him in the belly, and his insides spilled out on the ground. He died immediately, and Joab did not have to strike again. Then Joab and his brother Abishai went on after Sheba.

¹¹One of Joab's men stood by Amasa's body and called out, “Everyone who is for Joab and David follow Joab!”

¹²Amasa's body, covered with blood, was lying in the middle of the road. Joab's man saw that everybody was stopping, so he dragged the body from the road out into the field and threw a blanket over it.

¹³After the body had been removed from the road, everyone followed Joab in pursuit of Sheba.

¹⁴Sheba passed through the territory of all the tribes of Israel and came to the city of Abel Beth Maacah, and all the members of the clan of Bikri assembled and followed him into the city.

¹⁵Joab's men heard that Sheba was there, and so they went and besieged the city. They built ramps of earth against the outer wall and also began to dig under the wall to make it fall down.

¹⁶There was a wise woman in the city who shouted from the wall, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here; I want to speak with him.”

¹⁷Joab went, and she asked, “Are you Joab?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. “Listen to me, sir,” she said. “I'm listening,” he answered.

¹⁸She said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Go and get your answer in the city of Abel’—and that's just what they did.

¹⁹Ours is a great city, one of the most peaceful and loyal in Israel. Why are you trying to destroy it? Do you want to ruin what belongs to the Lord?”

²⁰“Never!” Joab answered. “I will never ruin or destroy your city!

²¹That is not our plan. A man named Sheba son of Bikri, who is from the hill country of Ephraim, started a rebellion against King David. Hand over this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.” “We will throw his head over the wall to you,” she said.

²²Then she went to the people of the city with her plan, and they cut off Sheba's head and threw it over the wall to Joab. He blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to leave the city, and they went back home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

David's Officials

²³Joab was in command of the army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in charge of David's bodyguards;

²⁴Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was in charge of the records;

²⁵Sheva was the court secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were the priests,

²⁶and Ira from the town of Jair was also one of David's priests.

The Temple Musicians

¹King David and the leaders of the Levites chose the following Levite clans to lead the worship services: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. They were to proclaim God's messages, accompanied by the music of harps and cymbals. This is the list of persons chosen to lead the worship, with the type of service that each group performed:

²The four sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah. They were under the direction of Asaph, who proclaimed God's messages whenever the king commanded.

³The six sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah. Under the direction of their father they proclaimed God's message, accompanied by the music of harps, and sang praise and thanks to the Lord.

⁴The fourteen sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth.

⁵God gave to Heman, the king's prophet, these fourteen sons and also three daughters, as he had promised, in order to give power to Heman.

⁶All of his sons played cymbals and harps under their father's direction, to accompany the Temple worship. And Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under orders from the king.

⁷All these twenty-four men were experts; and their fellow Levites were trained musicians. There were 288 men in all.

⁸To determine the assignment of duties they all drew lots, whether they were young or old, experts or beginners.

^9-31These 288 men were divided according to families into twenty-four groups of twelve, with a leader in charge of each group. This is the order in which they were on duty: 1) Joseph of the family of Asaph; 2) Gedaliah; 3) Zaccur; 4) Zeri; 5) Nethaniah; 6) Bukkiah; 7) Asharelah; 8) Jeshaiah; 9) Mattaniah; 10) Shimei; 11) Uzziel; 12) Hashabiah; 13) Shebuel; 14) Mattithiah; 15) Jerimoth; 16) Hananiah; 17) Joshbekashah; 18) Hanani; 19) Mallothi; 20) Eliathah; 21) Hothir; 22) Giddalti; 23) Mahazioth; 24) Romamti Ezer.

The Confession of a Sufferer

¹I said, “I will be careful about what I do and will not let my tongue make me sin; I will not say anything while evil people are near.”

²I kept quiet, not saying a word, not even about anything good! But my suffering only grew worse,

³and I was overcome with anxiety. The more I thought, the more troubled I became; I could not keep from asking:

⁴“Lord, how long will I live? When will I die? Tell me how soon my life will end.”

⁵How short you have made my life! In your sight my lifetime seems nothing. Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind,

⁶no more than a shadow. All we do is for nothing; we gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

⁷What, then, can I hope for, Lord? I put my hope in you.

⁸Save me from all my sins, and don't let fools make fun of me.

⁹I will keep quiet, I will not say a word, for you are the one who made me suffer like this.

¹⁰Don't punish me any more! I am about to die from your blows.

¹¹You punish our sins by your rebukes, and like a moth you destroy what we love. Indeed we are no more than a puff of wind!

¹²Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry; come to my aid when I weep. Like all my ancestors I am only your guest for a little while.

¹³Leave me alone so that I may have some happiness before I go away and am no more.