2 Samuel 20:6-7

20:6 Then David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure ¹  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.” 20:7 So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 20:13

20:13 Once he had removed Amasa ²  from the path, everyone followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 20:21

20:21 That’s not the way things are. There is a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bicri. He has rebelled ³  against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute ⁴  his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

¹ tn Heb “find.” The perfect verbal form is unexpected with the preceding word “otherwise.” We should probably read instead the imperfect. Although it is possible to understand the perfect here as indicating that the feared result is thought of as already having taken place (cf. BDB 814 s.v. פֶּן 2), it is more likely that the perfect is simply the result of scribal error. In this context the imperfect would be more consistent with the following verb וְהִצִּיל (vÿhitsil, “and he will get away”).

² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “lifted his hand.”

⁴ tn Heb “Look!”