Atlas Biblica

    2 Samuel · 26 verses

    2 Samuel 20

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A besieged city saves itself by throwing a rebel’s severed head over the wall, after which Joab sounds the horn and the army goes home.

    A greeting, a dagger, and an inconvenient corpsevv. 1–13

    Sheba son of Bichri finds a horn and a slogan, and Israel goes after him while Judah remains with David from the Jordan to Jerusalem. David sends Amasa to summon Judah; Amasa is late, so Joab and Abishai take up the pursuit. At Gibeon, Joab greets Amasa as a brother, takes him by the beard for a kiss, and kills him with the dagger already in his hand. The army then has to pause for the corpse in the road—an obstruction of unusually emphatic proportions—until a young soldier drags it into a field and covers it. Once the road is clear, the pursuit resumes.

    The head over the wallvv. 14–22

    Sheba reaches Abel-beth-maacah, where Joab’s troops build a siege ramp and batter the city wall. A wise woman calls Joab over and reminds him that Abel was a place where disputes were settled, not a place to be swallowed up with the LORD’s inheritance. Joab narrows the whole war to one man: deliver Sheba, and the army will leave. The woman takes that bargain to the people, who cut off Sheba’s head and throw it over the wall. Joab blows the horn, the army disperses to its own homes, and Joab returns to David in Jerusalem. It is a remarkably tidy conclusion to a siege, provided nobody dwells on the parcel being delivered.

    The machinery of the kingdomvv. 23–26

    The chapter ends not with a speech but with an arrangement of offices. Joab is over the army; Benaiah commands the Cherethites and Pelethites; Adoram handles forced labor; Jehoshaphat records; Sheva writes; Zadok and Abiathar serve as priests; and Ira is David’s priest. After horns, walls, and a head in flight, the government resumes its list.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 2 Sam 20:1Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram’s horn and shouted: “We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son. Every man to his tent, O Israel!”

    2. 2 Sam 20:2So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

    3. 2 Sam 20:3When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

    4. 2 Sam 20:4Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.”

    5. 2 Sam 20:5So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time allotted him.

    6. 2 Sam 20:6And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and elude us.”

    7. 2 Sam 20:7So Joab’s men, along with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men, marched out of Jerusalem in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri.

    8. 2 Sam 20:8And while they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire, with a dagger strapped to his belt. And as he stepped forward, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.

    9. 2 Sam 20:9“Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.

    10. 2 Sam 20:10Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

    11. 2 Sam 20:11One of Joab’s young men stood near Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab!”

    12. 2 Sam 20:12But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the road, and when the man saw that all the troops were stopping there, he dragged the body off the road into a field and threw a garment over it.

    13. 2 Sam 20:13As soon as Amasa’s body was removed from the road, all the men went on with Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

    14. 2 Sam 20:14Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel-beth-maacah and through the entire region of the Berites, who gathered together and followed him.

    15. 2 Sam 20:15And Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel-beth-maacah and built a siege ramp against the outer rampart of the city. As all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to topple it,

    16. 2 Sam 20:16a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here so that I may speak with him.”

    17. 2 Sam 20:17When he had come near to her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” “I am,” he replied. “Listen to the words of your servant,” she said. “I am listening,” he answered.

    18. 2 Sam 20:18Then the woman said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Seek counsel at Abel,’ and that is how disputes were settled.

    19. 2 Sam 20:19I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel, but you are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”

    20. 2 Sam 20:20“Far be it!” Joab declared. “Far be it from me to swallow up or destroy!

    21. 2 Sam 20:21That is not the case. But a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him alone, and I will depart from the city.” “Look,” the woman replied, “his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

    22. 2 Sam 20:22Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

    23. 2 Sam 20:23Now Joab was over the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites;

    24. 2 Sam 20:24Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;

    25. 2 Sam 20:25Sheva was the scribe; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

    26. 2 Sam 20:26and Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 185 passages were voted onto 26 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 232 Samuel 8:16–18Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;
    • 11 Kings 12:16When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,
    • 32 Samuel 16:21–22Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
    • 32 Samuel 15:16Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.
    • 42 Samuel 17:25Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab.
    • 42 Samuel 19:13And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”
    • 72 Samuel 8:18Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priestly leaders.
    • 102 Samuel 2:23But Asahel refused to turn away. So Abner thrust the butt of his spear into his stomach, and it came out his back, and he fell dead on the spot. And every man paused when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
    • 152 Kings 19:32So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
    • 162 Samuel 14:2So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long time.
    • 191 Samuel 26:19Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the LORD! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
    • 2John 6:66–68From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.
    • 2Acts 11:23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
    • 62 Samuel 11:11Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”
    • 61 Kings 1:33“Take my servants with you,” said the king. “Set my son Solomon on my own mule and take him down to Gihon.
    • 62 Samuel 21:17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

    Onward

    Keep reading

    Next chapter2 Samuel 2122 verses.Named hereAbel-beth-maacahEverything the graph connects to this name.Book2 SamuelAll 24 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.