⁸ So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,^(A)” they all came before him.

Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.

Sheba Rebels Against David

20 Now a troublemaker named Sheba son of Bikri, a Benjamite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and shouted,

²² Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice,^(A) and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bikri and threw it to Joab. So he sounded the trumpet, and his men dispersed from the city, each returning to his home. And Joab went back to the king in Jerusalem.

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated^(A) and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.

²¹ So Jehoram^[a] went to Zair with all his chariots. The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he rose up and broke through by night; his army, however, fled back home.