2 Samuel 20:20-26

20:20 Joab answered, “Get serious! ¹  I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything! 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 ²  against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab, “This very minute ³  his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

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 ⁴  blew the trumpet, and his men ⁵  dispersed from the city, each going to his own home. ⁶  Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

20:23 Now Joab was the general in command of all the army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoida was over the Kerethites and the Perethites. 20:24 Adoniram ⁷  was supervisor of the work crews. ⁸  Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the secretary. 20:25 Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests. 20:26 Ira the Jairite was David’s personal priest. ⁹ 

[20:20]  ¹ tn Heb “Far be it, far be it from me.” The expression is clearly emphatic, as may be seen in part by the repetition. P. K. McCarter, however, understands it to be coarser than the translation adopted here. He renders it as “I’ll be damned if…” (II Samuel [AB], 426, 429), which (while it is not a literal translation) may not be too far removed from the way a soldier might have expressed himself.

[20:21]  ² tn Heb “lifted his hand.”

[20:21]  ³ tn Heb “Look!”

[20:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Joab’s men) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “his tents.”

[20:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “Adoram” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV, CEV), but see 1 Kgs 4:6; 5:14.

[20:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “was over the forced labor.”

[20:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “priest for David.” KJV (“a chief ruler about David”) and ASV (“chief minister unto David”) regarded this office as political.