Now two hundred men had gone with Absalom from Jerusalem. Since they were invited, they went naively and were unaware of what Absalom was planning.<n id="1" />

His wife then took the covering and spread it over the top of the well and scattered some grain over it. No one was aware of what she had done.p>

and said, &#8220;O <sc>Lordsc>, I will not do this!<n id="1" /> It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.&#8221;<n id="2" /> So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors.<n id="3" />p>

Abner said to him, &#8220;Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers<n id="1" /> and take his equipment for yourself!&#8221; But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

But Absalom said nothing to Amnon, either bad or good, yet Absalom hated Amnon because he had humiliated his sister Tamar.p>

She replied, &#8220;In that case,<n id="1" /> let the king invoke the name of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> your God so that the avenger of blood may not kill! Then they will not destroy my son!&#8221; He replied, &#8220;As surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives, not a single hair of your son&#8217;s head<n id="3" /> will fall to the ground.&#8221;p>

Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored.<n id="1" />

Hushai went on to say, &#8220;You know your father and his men &#8211; they are soldiers and are as dangerous as a bear out in the wild that has been robbed of her cubs.<n id="1" /> Your father is an experienced soldier; he will not stay overnight with the army.

We will come against him wherever he happens to be found. We will descend on him like the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor any of the men who are with him will be spared alive &#8211; not one of them!

<p class="bodytext">When the servants of Absalom approached the woman at her home, they asked, &#8220;Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?&#8221; The woman replied to them, &#8220;They crossed over the stream.&#8221; Absalom&#8217;s men<n id="1" /> searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The king replied, &#8220;How is the young man Absalom?&#8221; Ahimaaz replied, &#8220;I saw a great deal of confusion when Joab was sending the king&#8217;s servant and me, your servant, but I don&#8217;t know what it was all about.&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now a wicked man<n id="1" /> named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite,<n id="2" /> happened to be there. He blew the trumpet<n id="3" /> and said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;We have no share in David;p> <p class="poetry">we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!p> <p class="poetry">Every man go home,<n id="4" /> O Israel!&#8221;p>

Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab&#8217;s other hand, and Joab<n id="1" /> stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa&#8217;s<n id="2" /> intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal.<n id="3" /> Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.p>

<p class="bodytext">Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them,<n id="1" /> she did not allow the birds of the air to feed<n id="2" /> on them by day, nor the wild animals<n id="3" /> by night.

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David&#8217;s aid, striking the Philistine down and killing him. Then David&#8217;s men took an oath saying, &#8220;You will not go out to battle with us again! You must not extinguish the lamp of Israel!&#8221;p>

So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the <sc>Lordsc>

But the king said to Araunah, &#8220;No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the <sc>Lordsc> my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said, &#8220;Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating<n id="1" /> loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives<n id="2" /> and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today!<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, &#8220;While the child was still alive he would not listen to us<n id="1" /> when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The man replied to Joab, &#8220;Even if<n id="1" /> I were receiving<n id="2" /> a thousand pieces of silver,<n id="3" /> I would not strike<n id="4" /> the king&#8217;s son! In our very presence<n id="5" /> the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, &#8216;Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.&#8217;<n id="6" />