When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers ¹  fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.

The woman said, “Why have you devised something like this against God’s people? When the king speaks in this fashion, he makes himself guilty, for the king has not brought back the one he has banished.

Then Joab blew the ram’s horn and all the people stopped in their tracks. ¹  They stopped chasing Israel and ceased fighting. ² 

I will cross the Jordan with the king and go a short distance. ¹  Why should the king reward me in this way?

Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together for me in three days, ¹  and you be present here with them too.”

But Asahel ¹  refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his ²  spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel ³  collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner. ⁴  Everyone who now comes to the place where Asahel fell dead pauses in respect. ⁵ 

As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together. ¹  So that place is called the Field of Flints; ²  it is in Gibeon.

When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army ¹  of the Philistines.”

How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools ¹  in Israel! Just ²  speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

In the meantime Absalom fled. When the servant who was the watchman looked up, he saw many people coming from the west ¹  on a road beside the hill.

When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!”

Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept ¹  in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove ²  you from the earth?”

Your servant ¹  has two sons. When the two of them got into a fight in the field, there was no one present who could intervene. One of them struck the other and killed him.

Your servant Joab did this so as to change this situation. But my lord has wisdom like that of the angel of God, and knows everything that is happening in the land.” ¹ 

The king said to Ziba, “Everything that was Mephibosheth’s now belongs to you.” Ziba replied, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my flesh and blood? ¹  God will punish me severely, ²  if from this time on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

So the Tekoan woman went ¹  to the king. She bowed down with her face to the ground in deference to him and said, “Please help me, ²  O king!”

Zadok and Abiathar the priests will be there with you. ¹  Everything you hear in the king’s palace ²  you must tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests.

Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

David was thirsty and said, “How I wish someone would give me some water to drink from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate!”