4 Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou
here present.
5 So Amasa went to assemble the men ofJudah: but he tarried longer than the set time which
he had appointed him.
6 And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did
Absalom: take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and
escape us.
7 And 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 wereat the great stone which isin Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's
garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle witha sword fastened upon
his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.
9 And Joab said to Amasa, Artthou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard
with the right hand to kiss him.
10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that wasin Joab'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
Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
11 And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that isfor
David, let him goafter Joab.
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.
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 And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the
Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.
15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the
city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that werewith Joab battered the wall, to
throw it down.
16 Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near
hither, that I may speak with thee.
17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Artthou Joab? And he answered, I am
he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.
18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask
counselat Abel: and so they ended the matter.
19 I am one of them that arepeaceable andfaithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and
a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or
destroy.
21 The matter isnot so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath
lifted up his hand against the king, evenagainst David: deliver him only, and I will depart from
the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba
the son of Bichri, and cast itout to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city,
every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.
23 Now Joab wasover all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada wasover the
Cherethites and over the Pelethites:
24 And Adoram wasover the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud wasrecorder:
25 And Sheva wasscribe: and Zadok and Abiathar werethe priests:

26 And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.
1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired
of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It isfor Saul, and for hisbloody house, because he slew
the Gibeonites.
2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites werenot of the
children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto
them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)
3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I
make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?
4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house;
neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, thatwill I do for
you.
5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us thatwe
should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in
Gibeah of Saul, whomthe LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S
oath that wasbetween them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul,
Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up
for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill
before the LORD: and they fell allseven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest,
in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the
beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds
of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of
Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had
hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:
13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they
gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah,
in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after
that God was intreated for the land.
15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his
servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
16 And Ishbibenob, which wasof the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed
three hundred shekelsof brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have
slain David.
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then
the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou
quench not the light of Israel.
18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob:
then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which wasof the sons of the giant.
19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of
Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother ofGoliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear
waslike a weaver's beam.

20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of greatstature, that had on every
hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to
the giant.
21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of
his servants.
1 And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day thatthe LORD had delivered
him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:
2 And he said, The LORD ismy rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he ismy shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high
tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
4 I will call on the LORD, who isworthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
6 The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;
7 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his
temple, and my cry did enterinto his ears.
8 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he
was wroth.
9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were
kindled by it.
10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness wasunder his feet.
11 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
12 And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, andthick clouds of the skies.
13 Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
14 The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.
15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.
16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the
rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
17 He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;
18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, andfrom them that hated me: for they were too
strong for me.
19 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
20 He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
21 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my
hands hath he recompensed me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all his judgments werebefore me: and as forhis statutes, I did not depart from them.
24 I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.
25 Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my
cleanness in his eye sight.
26 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, andwith the upright man thou wilt shew
thyself upright.
27 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself
unsavoury.
28 And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes areupon the haughty, thatthou
mayest bring themdown.
29 For thou artmy lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.
30 For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
31 As forGod, his way isperfect; the word of the LORD istried: he isa buckler to all them that