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And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
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So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.
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And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.
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Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present.
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So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.
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And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord’s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us.
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And there went out after him Joab’s men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
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When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.
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And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
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But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
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And one of Joab’s men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab.
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And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.
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When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.
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And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him.
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And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.
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Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
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And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.
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Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.
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I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord?
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And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
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The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
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Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.
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Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:
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And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder:
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And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:
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And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.
1
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
2
And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)
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Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
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And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.
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And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
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Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
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But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
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But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
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And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
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And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
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And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:
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And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
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And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.
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Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
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And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
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But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.
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And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.
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And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
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And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
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And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him.
22
These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
1
And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:
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And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
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The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
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I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
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5
When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
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The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;
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In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.
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Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.
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There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
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He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
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And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
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And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.
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Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
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The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.
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And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.
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And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
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He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;
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He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.
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They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.
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He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
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The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
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For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
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For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.
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I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.
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Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.
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With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.
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With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.
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And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.
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For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness.
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For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
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As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
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For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God?
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God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
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He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
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He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
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Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.
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Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.
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I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.
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And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.
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For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.
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Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.
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They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.
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Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.
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Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.
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Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
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Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.
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The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
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It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me.
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And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
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Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.
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He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.
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