2 Samuel 20:14-22:20
Contemporary English Version
Sheba Hides Out in the Town of Abel
14 Sheba had gone through all of the tribes of Israel when he came to the town of Abel Beth-Maacah. All of his best soldiers[a] met him there and followed him into the town.
15 Joab and his troops came and surrounded Abel, so that no one could go in or come out. They made a dirt ramp up to the town wall and then started to use a battering ram to knock the wall down.
A Wise Woman Saves the Town
16 A wise woman shouted from the top of the wall,[b] “Listen to me! Listen to me! I have to talk to Joab! Tell him to come here!” 17 When he came, the woman said, “Are you Joab?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.
She said, “Please, listen to what I have to say.”
“All right,” he said. “I'll listen.”
18 She said, “Long ago people used to say, ‘If you want good advice, go to the town of Abel to get it.’ The answers they got here were all that was needed to settle any problem. 19 We are Israelites, and we want peace! You can trust us. Why are you trying to destroy a town that's like a mother in Israel? Why do you want to wipe out the Lord's people?”
20 Joab answered, “No, no! I'm not trying to wipe you out or destroy your town! 21 That's not it at all. There's a man in your town from the hill country of Ephraim. His name is Sheba, and he is the leader of a rebellion against King David. Turn him over to me, and we will leave your town alone.”
The woman told Joab, “We will throw his head over the wall.”
22 She went to the people of the town and talked them into doing it. They cut off Sheba's head and threw it to Joab.
Joab blew a signal on his trumpet, and the soldiers returned to their homes. Joab went back to David in Jerusalem.
Another List of David's Officials[c]
23 Joab was the commander of Israel's entire army.
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of David's bodyguard.[d]
24 Adoram[e] was in charge of the slave-labor force.
Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud kept government records.
25 Sheva was the secretary.
Zadok and Abiathar were the priests.
26 Ira from Jair was David's priest.
The Gibeonites Hang Saul's Descendants
21 While David was king, there were three years in a row when the nation of Israel could not grow enough food. So David asked the Lord for help, and the Lord answered, “Saul and his family are guilty of murder, because he had the Gibeonites killed.”
2 (A) The Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were descendants of the Amorites. The people of Israel had promised not to kill them,[f] but Saul had tried to kill them because he wanted Israel and Judah to control all the land.
David had the Gibeonites come, and he talked with them. 3 He said, “What can I do to make up for what Saul did, so that you'll ask the Lord to be kind to his people again?”[g]
4 The Gibeonites answered, “Silver and gold from Saul and his family are not enough. On the other hand, we don't have the right to put any Israelite to death.”
David said, “I'll do whatever you ask.”[h]
5 They replied, “Saul tried to kill all our people so that none of us would be left in the land of Israel. 6 Give us seven of his descendants. We will hang[i] these men near the place where the Lord is worshiped in Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord's chosen king.”
“I'll give them to you,” David said.
7 (B) David had made a promise to Jonathan with the Lord as his witness, so he spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul. 8 (C) But Saul and Rizpah the daughter of Aiah had two sons named Armoni and Mephibosheth. Saul's daughter Merab[j] had five sons whose father was Adriel the son of Barzillai from Meholah.[k] David took Rizpah's two sons and Merab's five sons and 9 turned them over to the Gibeonites, who hanged[l] all seven of them on the mountain near the place where the Lord was worshiped. This happened right at the beginning of the barley harvest.[m]
Rizpah Takes Care of the Bodies
10 Rizpah spread out some sackcloth[n] on a nearby rock. She wouldn't let the birds land on the bodies during the day, and she kept the wild animals away at night. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until it started to rain.[o]
The Burial of Saul and His Descendants
11-12 (D) Earlier the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa and had hung their bodies in the town square at Beth-Shan. The people of Jabesh in Gilead had secretly taken the bodies away, but David found out what Saul's wife[p] Rizpah had done, and he went to the leaders of Jabesh to get the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. 13-14 David had their bones taken to the land of Benjamin and buried in a side room in Saul's family burial place. Then he gave orders for the bones of the men who had been hanged[q] to be buried there. It was done, and God answered prayers to bless the land.
The Descendants of the Rephaim
(1 Chronicles 20.4-8)
15 One time David got very tired when he and his soldiers were fighting the Philistines. 16 One of the Philistine warriors was Ishbibenob, who was a descendant of the Rephaim,[r] and he tried to kill David. Ishbibenob was armed with a new sword,[s] and his bronze spearhead[t] alone weighed about three and a half kilograms. 17 (E) But Abishai[u] came to the rescue and killed the Philistine.
David's soldiers told him, “We can't let you risk your life in battle anymore! You give light to our nation, and we want that flame to keep burning.”
18 There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, where Sibbecai from Hushah killed a descendant of the Rephaim named Saph.
19 There was still another battle with the Philistines at Gob. A soldier named Elhanan killed Goliath[v] from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.[w] Elhanan's father was Jari[x] from Bethlehem.
20 There was another war, this time in Gath. One of the enemy soldiers was a descendant of the Rephaim. He was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. 21 But when he made fun of Israel, David's nephew Jonathan killed him. Jonathan was the son of David's brother Shimei.
22 David and his soldiers killed these four men who were descendants of the Rephaim from Gath.
David Sings to the Lord
(Psalm 18.1-50)
22 David sang a song to the Lord after the Lord had rescued him from his enemies, especially Saul. These are the words to David's song:
2 Our Lord and our God,
you are my mighty rock,[y]
my fortress, my protector.
3 You are the rock
where I am safe.
You are my shield,
my powerful weapon,[z]
and my place of shelter.
You rescue me and keep me
safe from violence.
4 I praise you, our Lord!
I prayed to you,
and you rescued me
from my enemies.
5 Death, like ocean waves,
surrounded me,
and I was almost swallowed
by its flooding waters.
6 Ropes from the world
of the dead
had coiled around me,
and death had set a trap
in my path.
7 I was in terrible trouble
when I called out to you,
but from your temple
you heard me
and answered my prayer.
8 Earth shook and shivered!
The columns supporting the sky[aa]
rocked back and forth.
You were angry
9 and breathed out smoke.
Scorching heat and fiery flames
spewed from your mouth.
10 You opened the heavens
like curtains,
and you came down
with storm clouds
under your feet.
11 You rode on the backs
of flying creatures.[ab]
You appeared[ac]
with the wind as wings.
12 Darkness was your tent!
Thunderclouds filled the sky,
hiding you from sight.
13 Fiery coals lit up the sky
in front of you.
14 Lord Most High, your voice
thundered from the heavens.
15 You scattered your enemies
with arrows of lightning.
16 You roared at the sea,
and its deepest channels
could be seen.
You snorted,
and the earth shook
to its foundations.
17 You reached down from heaven,
and you lifted me
from deep in the ocean.
18 You rescued me from enemies
who were hateful
and too powerful for me.
19 On the day disaster struck,
they came and attacked,
but you defended me.
20 When I was fenced in,
you freed and rescued me
because you love me.
Footnotes
- 20.14 best soldiers: One ancient translation; the difficult Hebrew text may mean either “Berites” or “Bichrites,” Sheba's relatives.
- 20.16 the top of the wall: Or “the town.”
- 20.23 Another List of David's Officials: See also the list in 8.16,17.
- 20.23 David's bodyguard: See the note at 8.18.
- 20.24 Adoram: One ancient translation “Adoniram” (see 1 Kings 4.1-6; 5.14).
- 21.2 promised … them: See Joshua 9.3-27.
- 21.3 ask … again: Saul's guilt had become a curse on Israel that had resulted in famine. For the effects of this curse to be removed, the Gibeonites would have to ask the Lord to be kind to Israel.
- 21.4 I'll … ask: Or “What are you asking me to do for you?”
- 21.6 hang: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 21.8 Merab: Some Hebrew manuscripts and some manuscripts of one ancient translation. Most other manuscripts have “Michal,” Saul's daughter who was one of David's wives, but she never had any children (see 2 Samuel 6.23). According to 1 Samuel 18.19, Merab was Saul's daughter, and she married Adriel from Meholah.
- 21.8 Meholah: Also known as Abel-Meholah.
- 21.9 hanged: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 21.9 This … harvest: This would have been late in April.
- 21.10 sackcloth: See the note at 3.31.
- 21.10 started to rain: This may have been the beginning of the rainy season in September or October. It usually didn't rain from May to September. Or, it may have been a sign that now there would be enough rain again.
- 21.11,12 wife: See the note at 3.7.
- 21.13,14 hanged: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 21.16 Rephaim: This may refer to a group of people that lived in Palestine before the Israelites and who were famous for their large size.
- 21.16 new sword: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 21.16 spearhead: Or “helmet.”
- 21.17 Abishai: David's nephew, the brother of Joab.
- 21.19 Goliath: According to 1 Chronicles 20.5, Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath.
- 21.19 weaver's beam: A large wooden rod used by a weaver when making cloth.
- 21.19 Jari: Or “Jaare.”
- 22.2 mighty rock: The Hebrew text has “rock,” which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the Lord to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.
- 22.3 powerful weapon: The Hebrew has “the horn,” which refers to the horn of a bull, one of the most powerful animals in ancient Palestine.
- 22.8 columns … sky: The sky was sometimes described as a dome that was held up by a foundation or pillars.
- 22.11 flying creatures: These were supernatural beings (see the note at 6.2).
- 22.11 appeared: Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts “swooped down” (see Psalm 18.10).
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