2 Samuel 20:20

20 And Joab answereth and saith, `Far be it -- far be it from me; I do not swallow up nor destroy.

2 Samuel 20:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 20:20

And Joab answered and said, far be it from me, far be it from
me
He repeats these words, to show how detestable it was to him to do what she suggested:

that I should swallow up or destroy;
any in a violent and unrighteous manner, and especially a city of which she had given such a character for its greatness and worth, and for the peaceableness and fidelity of its inhabitants.

2 Samuel 20:20 In-Context

18 and she speaketh, saying, `They spake often in former times, saying, Let them diligently ask at Abel, and so they finished.

19 I [am] of the peaceable -- faithful ones of Israel; thou art seeking to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel; why dost thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?

20 And Joab answereth and saith, `Far be it -- far be it from me; I do not swallow up nor destroy.

21 The matter [is] not so; for a man of the hill-country of Ephraim -- Sheba son of Bichri his name -- hath lifted up his hand against the king, against David; give ye up him by himself, and I go away from the city.' And the woman saith unto Joab, `Lo, his head is cast unto thee over the wall.'

22 And the woman cometh unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri, and cast [it] unto Joab, and he bloweth with a trumpet, and they are scattered from the city, each to his tents, and Joab hath turned back to Jerusalem unto the king.