¹² Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? saying [also], Make your league with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with you, to bring about all Israel to you.

²¹ Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires. David sent Abner away; and he went in peace.

⁸ A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.

⁹ The multitudes who went before him, and who followed kept shouting, "Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

¹⁰ When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"

⁹ Surely men of low degree are just a breath, And men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.

³⁸ All these being men of war, who could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

³⁹ They were there with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brothers had made preparation for them.

⁴⁰ Moreover those who were near to them, [even] as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, food of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel.

¹ Then all Israel gathered themselves to David to Hebron, saying, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

² In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel: and Yahweh your God said to you, You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.

³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Yahweh by Samuel.

⁴¹ Behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David's men with him?

⁴² All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is a close relative to us: why then are you angry for this matter? have we eaten at all at the king's cost? or has he given us any gift?

⁴³ 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 you: why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

¹ There happened to be there a base fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, Israel.

² So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah joined with their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

³ 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 custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.

⁴ Then said the king to Amasa, Call me the men of Judah together within three days, and be here present.

⁵ So Amasa went to call [the men of] Judah together; but he stayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

⁶ David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take your lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.

⁷ 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.

⁸ When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and thereon was a sash with a sword fastened on his loins in the sheath of it; and as he went forth it fell out.

⁹ Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

¹⁰ But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he struck him therewith in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and didn't strike him again; and he died. Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹¹ There stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab.

¹² Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. When the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who 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 He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one man; so that they sent to the king, [saying], Return you, and all your servants.

⁶ in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. For you have declared this day, that princes and servants are nothing to you: for this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased you well.

¹ Then came all the tribes of Israel to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

² In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel: and Yahweh said to you, You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.

³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh: and they anointed David king over Israel.

²⁷ When Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.

⁵ Calling each one of his lord's debtors to him, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe to my lord?'

⁶ He said, 'A hundred batos{100 batos is about 395 litres, 104 U. S. gallons, or 87 imperial gallons.} of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'

⁷ Then said he to another, 'How much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred cors{ 100 cors = about 3,910 litres or 600 bushels. } of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

⁸ "His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.