2 Samuel 20:21–22

⁶And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.

⁹And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?

⁷And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.

²²And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.

²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

³And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

¹AND there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

¹⁸And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among three.

¹⁵For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.

¹⁹And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

³³And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.

⁴And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

⁵And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

⁶And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go.

⁷¶ Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

⁸And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

⁹And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

²⁴¶ And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan.

¹AND there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.

¹⁹Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.

⁶¶ And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

⁷And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.

⁸And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.

⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

¹⁰And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?

¹¹And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.

¹²And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

¹³And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

¹⁴¶ And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

¹⁵And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

¹⁶And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.

¹⁷And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

¹⁸¶ Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;

¹⁹And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,

²⁰And if so be that the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

²¹Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

¹⁶And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people.

²⁸So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.

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.

²⁸¶ And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:

²⁹Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread.

³⁰So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.

³¹¶ And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.

³²And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept.

³³And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?

³⁴Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him.

³⁵And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David sware, saying, So do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or ought else, till the sun be down.

³⁶And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.

³⁷For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.

³⁸And the king said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?

³⁹And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.

¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

¹³¶ This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:

¹⁴There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

¹⁷The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.