Now will Sabee, son of Bochori do us more harm than Abes. salom. Now therefore take thou with thee the servants of thy lord, and pursue him, lest he secure for himself cities of de7 fence, that he may escape our notice. So there went out after him, Abessa's men, and Joab's men, and the Cherethites, and 8 the Phelethites, and all the mighty men. And when they had marched out of Jerusalem in pursuit of Sabee, son of Bochori, and were come to the great heap of stones at Gabaon, Amessai came in before them. Now Joab had a military robe girded on for his dress, and over it he was girt with a sword on his 9 thigh in its sheath, and the sword dropped out. But as it dropped out and fell, therefore when Joab said to Amessai, art thou well my brother? and with his right hand took hold of Amessai's beard to kiss it, Amessai did not attend to the 10 sword which was in Joab's hand. So Joab smote him with it into the belly, and his bowels gushed out on the ground, so that he did not repeat the blow. And while he was dying, Joab 11 and Abessa, his brother, pursued after Sabee, son of Bochori, and there stood by him one of the servants of Joab, who said, Whoever is for Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow 12 Joab. Now Amessai was weltering in his blood in the middle of the road. And when the man saw that all the people halted, he drew Amessai out of the road, into the field, and threw a mantle over him, because he saw that all the people who came 13 up stood still. And when he had removed him out of the road, then all the men of Israel proceeded on after Joab, in pursuit 14 of Sabee, son of Bochori. Now he had passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Bethmacha, and all the men at 15 Charri had assembled and gone after him. And when they came up with him they formed a siege against him in Abel and Bethmacha. And when they had levelled the bank before the city, and were got within the out works, and all the people 16 who were with Joab, were labouring to throw down the wall, a wise woman cried with a loud voice from the wall, and said, Hear! Hear! Say, I pray you, to Joab, Come near hither 17 that I may speak to him. And when he drew near to her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he said, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of thy servant. And when Joab said, I 18 am hearkening, then she continued her speech, and said, They used heretofore to state an accusation, saying, He who is examined hath been examined both in Abel and Dan. If the liege men of Israel have been guilty of what is laid to their charge, let the examiners in Abel inquire in like manner 19 whether they have been guilty. For my part I am for observing strictly the customs of Israel, which tend to peace; but thou art seeking to destroy a city-a mother city in Israel. Why wouldst thou swallow up an inheritance of the Lord? 20 In answer to which Joab said, Mercy on me! Mercy on me! 21 Am I for swallowing up? Am I for destroying? Is not this the case? There is a man of mount Ephraim-his name is Sabee son of Bochori, who hath lifted up his hand against king David. Only deliver him up to me, and I will depart 22 from the city. And the woman said, Behold his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. So the woman went to all the people. And when she had spoken to the whole city in her wisdom, they cut off the head of Sabee son of Bochori. And having cut it off, they threw it to Joab; whereupon Joab sounded a trumpet, and all the people withdrew from the city, and dispersed, every man to his tent, and Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. 23 Now Joab was over all the host of Israel, and Banaias son of Jodae was over the Cherethites and the Phelethites, and Adoniram was over the tribute, and Josaphat son of Achiluth was recorder, and Susa was scribe, and Sadok and Abiathar were priests, and Iras the son of Jarim was priest for David. XXI. In the days of David there was a famine three years, year after year successively; whereupon David applied to the Lord, and the Lord said, On Saul and on his house be the iniquity, by the death of his descendants, because he put to death 2 the Gabaonites. Now the Gabaonites are not of the children of Israel, but a remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them; but Saul sought occasion to smite them, when he was courting popularity with the children of Israel and 3 Juda. So king David sent for the Gabaonites, and said to them, What shall I do for you; and by what means can I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? 4 And the Gabaonites said to him, We have no controversy with Saul and his household, about gold or silver, nor is it 5 for us to put to death a man in Israel. And the king said, What do you say, I must do for you? And they said to the king, The man who set himself against us, and persecuted us, and who formed pretences to exterminate us, him let us destroy, 6 that he may not rise up in all the borders of Israel. Give us seven men of his sons, and let us crucify to the Lord at Gabaon those of Saul who are the choice of the Lord. And the king 7 said, I will give them. But the king had compassion on Memphibosthe, the son of Jonathan, Saul's son, on account of the oath of the Lord between them—namely between David and 8 Jonathan, Saul's son. So the king took the two sons of Respha, the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, namely Ermoni and Memphibosthe, and the five sons of Michol the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Esdriel, the son of Berzelli, the Mooulothite, and delivered them into the hands of the Gabaonites, and they crucified them on the mount before the 9 Lord. So these seven fell together. Now they were put to death in the days of the harvest of first fruits, in the beginning 10 of the barley harvest. And Respha, the daughter of Aia, took sackcloth, and fixed it up for herself, before the rock, in the beginning of the barley harvest, until water from heaven dropped upon them; and she suffered not the birds of the air to rest upon them by day, nor the beasts of the field by 11 night. When David was told what Respha the daughter of Aia Saul's concubine had done-(now they were wasted away, and Dan son of Joa, of the race of the giants had taken 12 them down.) David went, and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabis Galaad, who had stolen them from the street of Baithsan, where the Philistines had fixed them on the day when the Philistines 13 smote Saul at Gelbua; and having brought thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, he gathered up the bones 14 of them who had been crucified. And they buried the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, and the bones of them who were crucified, in the land of Benjamin, on the one side, in the tomb of his father Kis. And when they had done all that the king commanded, God, after that, hearkened to the land. 15 There was also another battle between the Philistines and Israel. David, and his servants with him, went down and fought 16 the Philistines. And as David was advancing, Jesbi, who was of the race of Rapha, and the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels, brass weight, and who was clad in armour, 17 thought to have smitten David; but Abessa, son of Saruia, came to his assistance, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then David's men swore, saying, Thou shalt not go out with us any more to battle, lest thou extinguish the lamp of Israel. 18 19 20 And after this there was another battle, at Geth, with the Philistines, in which Sobocha the Astatothite smote Seph, one of the descendants of Rapha. There was also a battle with the Philistines at Rom, when Eleanan son of Ariorgim the Bethlemite, smote Lachmi, the brother of Goliath the Gethite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. There was also another battle at Geth, and there was a smooth man who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty four in all, and he was a descendant of 21 Rapha, and defied Israel, but Jonathan son of Semei, David's 22 brother, smote him. These four descendants of the giants were born at Geth, and were of the house of Rapha, and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. XXII. And David addressed the Lord in the words of this ode: on the day the Lord delivered him out of the hands of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, he said in a psalm; O Lord, Thou art my rock and my fortress. It is he who delivereth me; he shall be my God. He will be my guard, in him I will trust; 2 3 4 5 6 7 He is my defence, and the horn of my salvation- Because troubles of death have surrounded me- 8 9 10 11 12 From his holy temple he will hear my voice, The earth indeed was shaken-it trembled The foundations of heaven were convulsed, and quivered, At his indignation a smoke ascended, A fire from his mouth devoureth. By it coals are kindled to a glow. His pavilion around him was darkness of waters; From the flashing lightning before him Flaming fires were kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven, 13 14 The Most High uttered his voice. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 He sent forth his bolts and scattered them: He darted his lightning, and confounded them. And the foundations of the earth were disclosed, At the blast of the breath of his anger. He sent from on high and took me; He drew me out of many waters: He delivered me from mine enemies' strength- Because they were stronger than I. The days of my distress came on me unawares, And brought me out to a roomy place, And delivered me, because he delighted in me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; And did not wickedly depart from my God- |