5
So Amasa went to assemble
the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
6
And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, shall do us more harm than Absalom; take thou thy lord’s slaves and pursue after him lest he find fenced cities and escape us.
7
Then Joab’s men went out after him, 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
were at the great stone which
is in Gibeon, Amasa came out and met them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him and upon it a girdle
with a sword fastened upon his loins in its sheath, and as he went forth, it fell out.
9
And Joab said to Amasa,
Art thou in peace, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
10
But Amasa took no heed of the sword that
was in Joab’s hand; and he smote him with it 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 servants stood by him, and said, He that favours Joab and he that
is for David,
let him go after Joab.
12
And Amasa had wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field and cast a garment upon him because he saw that every one that came by him stopped.
13
When he was removed out of the highway, all the people that followed Joab passed on, 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 also went after him.
15
And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and
the people went against the wall; and all the people that
were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.