As he yelled curses, Shimei said, &#8220;Leave! Leave! You man of bloodshed, you wicked man!<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">The one who touches themp> <p class="poetry">must use an iron instrumentp> <p class="poetry">or the wooden shaft of a spear.p> <p class="poetry">They are completely burned up right where they lie!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish-tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.p>

<p class="bodytext">So all the men of Israel deserted<n id="1" /> David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River<n id="2" /> to Jerusalem.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">One of Joab&#8217;s soldiers who stood over Amasa said, &#8220;Whoever is for<n id="1" /> Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Joab reported the number of warriors<n id="1" /> to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers.p>

<p class="bodytext">When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them,<n id="1" /> they<n id="2" /> sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah,<n id="3" /> in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob.<n id="4" />p>