And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name [was] Sheva, Ben Bichri, a Benyamite: and he blew a shofar, and said:
We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in Ben Yishai: every man to his tents, O Yisra'el.
20:2 So every man of Yisra'el went up from after David, [and] followed Sheva Ben Bichri: but the men of Yehudah clave unto their king, from Yarden even to Yerushalayim.
20:3 And David came to his house at Yerushalayim; 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 Yehudah within three days, and be thou here present.
20:5 So Amasa went to assemble [the men of] Yehudah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
And David said to Avishai:
Now shall Sheva Ben Bichri do us more harm than [did] Avishalom (אבישׁלום): take thou thy adon (אדן )'s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us.
20:7 And there went out after him Yo'av's men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Yerushalayim, to pursue after Sheva Ben Bichri.
20:8 When they [were] at the great stone which [is] in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Yo'av'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 Yo'av said to Amasa:
[Art] thou in health, my brother?
And Yo'av took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
20:10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that [was] in Yo'av'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 Yo'av and Avishai his brother pursued after Sheva Ben Bichri.
And one of Yo'av's men stood by him, and said:
He that favoureth Yo'av, and he that [is] for David, [let him go] after Yo'av.
20:12 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.
20:13 When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Yo'av, to pursue after Sheva Ben Bichri.
20:14 And he went through all the tribes of Yisra'el unto Avel, and to Beit-Maachah, and all the Berites: and they were Gatered together, and went also after him.
20:15 And they came and besieged him in Avel of Beit-Maachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that [were] with Yo'av battered the wall, to throw it down.
Then cried a wise woman out of the city:
Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Yo'av, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
20:17 And when he was come near unto her.
The woman said:
[Art] thou Yo'av?
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 Avel": and so they ended [the matter].
I [am one of them that are] peaceable [and] faithful in Yisra'el: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Yisra'el: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of YHWH (יהוה)?
And Yo'av 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 Efrayim, Sheva Ben 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 Yo'av:
Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
20:22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheva Ben Bichri, and cast [it] out to Yo'av. And he blew a shofar, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Yo'av returned to Yerushalayim unto the king.
20:23 Now Yo'av [was] over all the host of Yisra'el: and Benayah Ben Yehoyada [was] over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:
20:24 And Adoram [was] over the tribute: and Yehoshaphat Ben Ahilud [was] recorder:
20:25 And Sheva [was] scribe: and Tzadok and Evyatar [were] the Kohenim:
20:26 And Ira also the Yairite was a chief ruler about David.