2 Samuel 20:1

Sheba’s Rebellion

20:1 Now a wicked man ¹  named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, ²  happened to be there. He blew the trumpet ³  and said,

“We have no share in David;

we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!

Every man go home, ⁴  O Israel!”

2 Samuel 20:6

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 ⁵  fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

2 Samuel 20:10

20:10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab ⁶  stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s ⁷  intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. ⁸  Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

2 Samuel 20:22

20:22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise advice and they cut off Sheba’s head and threw it out to Joab. Joab ⁹  blew the trumpet, and his men ¹⁰  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ¹¹  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

[20:1]  ¹ tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”

[20:1]  ² tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.

[20:1]  ³ tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.

[20:1]  ⁴ tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.

[20:6]  ⁵ 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”).

[20:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amasa) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he did not repeat concerning him, and he died.”

[20:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his tents.”