2 Samuel 20:21

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

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 against King David. Give me just this one man, and I will leave the city.” The woman said to Joab,“This very minute his head will be thrown over the wall to you!”

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Josh 24:33 : 33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, where his son Phinehas had been assigned land.
  • Judg 2:9 : 9 The people buried him in his allotted land in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
  • Judg 7:24 : 24 Gideon Appeases the Ephraimites Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced,“Go down and head off the Midianites. Take control of the fords of the streams all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” When all the Ephraimites had assembled, they took control of the fords all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.
  • Judg 18:4-8 : 4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying,“He hired me and I became his priest.” 5 They said to him,“Seek a divine oracle for us, so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” 6 The priest said to them,“Go with confidence. The LORD will be with you on your mission.” 7 So the five men journeyed on and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there were living securely, like the Sidonians do, undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 When the Danites returned to their tribe in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them,“How did it go?”
  • 1 Sam 24:6 : 6 He said to his men,“May the LORD keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the LORD’s chosen one, by extending my hand against him. After all, he is the LORD’s chosen one.”
  • 1 Sam 26:9 : 9 But David said to Abishai,“Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the LORD’s chosen one and remain guiltless?”
  • 2 Sam 17:2-3 : 2 When I catch up with him he will be exhausted and worn out. I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king 3 and will bring the entire army back to you. In exchange for the life of the man you are seeking, you will get back everyone. The entire army will return unharmed.”
  • 2 Sam 20:1 : 1 Sheba’s Rebellion Now a wicked man named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, happened to be there. He blew the trumpet and said,“We have no share in David; we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse! Every man go home, O Israel!”
  • 2 Sam 23:18 : 18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three.
  • 2 Kgs 5:22 : 22 He answered,“Everything is fine. My master sent me with this message,‘Look, two servants of the prophets just arrived from the Ephraimite hill country. Please give them a talent of silver and two suits of clothes.’”
  • 2 Kgs 10:7 : 7 When they received the letter, they seized the king’s sons and executed all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.
  • Jer 4:15 : 15 For messengers are coming, heralding disaster, from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim.
  • Jer 50:19 : 19 But I will restore the flock of Israel to their own pasture. They will graze on Mount Carmel and the land of Bashan. They will eat until they are full on the hills of Ephraim and the land of Gilead.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • 86%

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

    23 Now Joab was the general in command of all the army of Israel. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and the Perethites.

  • 79%

    13 Once he had removed Amasa from the path, everyone followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

    14 Sheba traveled through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth Maacah and all the Berite region. When they had assembled, they too joined him.

    15 So Joab’s men came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through the wall so that it would collapse,

    16 a wise woman called out from the city,“Listen up! Listen up! Tell Joab,‘Come near so that I may speak to you.’”

    17 When he approached her, the woman asked,“Are you Joab?” He replied,“I am.” She said to him,“Listen to the words of your servant.” He said,“Go ahead. I’m listening.”

    18 She said,“In the past they would always say,‘Let them inquire in Abel,’ and that is how they settled things.

    19 I represent the peaceful and the faithful in Israel. You are attempting to destroy an important city in Israel. Why should you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”

    20 Joab answered,“Get serious! I don’t want to swallow up or destroy anything!

  • 2 Sam 20:6-7
    2 verses
    77%

    6 Then David said to Abishai,“Now Sheba son of Bicri will cause greater disaster for us than Absalom did! Take your lord’s servants and pursue him. Otherwise he will secure fortified cities for himself and get away from us.”

    7 So Joab’s men, accompanied by the Kerethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors, left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bicri.

  • 2 Sam 20:1-2
    2 verses
    76%

    1 Sheba’s Rebellion Now a wicked man named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, happened to be there. He blew the trumpet and said,“We have no share in David; we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse! Every man go home, O Israel!”

    2 So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bicri. But the men of Judah stuck by their king all the way from the Jordan River to Jerusalem.

  • 73%

    10 Amasa did not protect himself from the knife in Joab’s other hand, and Joab stabbed him in the abdomen, causing Amasa’s intestines to spill out on the ground. There was no need to stab him again; the first blow was fatal. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.

    11 One of Joab’s soldiers who stood over Amasa said,“Whoever is for Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!”

  • 73%

    18 Then the king replied to the woman,“Don’t hide any information from me when I question you.” The woman said,“Let my lord the king speak!”

    19 The king said,“Did Joab put you up to all of this?” The woman answered,“As surely as you live, my lord the king, there is no deviation to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has said. For your servant Joab gave me instructions. He has put all these words in your servant’s mouth.

  • 2 Sam 4:7-8
    2 verses
    72%

    7 They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him and then cut off his head. Taking his head, they traveled on the way of the rift valley all that night.

    8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king,“Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The LORD has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against Saul and his descendants!”

  • 72%

    30 When Benaiah arrived at the tent of the LORD, he said to him,“The king says,‘Come out!’” But he replied,“No, I will die here!” So Benaiah sent word to the king and reported Joab’s reply.

    31 The king told him,“Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds.

    32 May the LORD punish him for the blood he shed; behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he– Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

  • 72%

    20 if the king becomes angry and asks you,‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall?

    21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him,‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”

    22 So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him.

  • 9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king,“Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

  • 8 These words of Ish-bosheth really angered Abner and he said,“Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah? This very day I am demonstrating loyalty to the house of Saul your father and to his relatives and his friends! I have not betrayed you into the hand of David. Yet you have accused me of sinning with this woman today!

  • 25 David said to the messenger,“Tell Joab,‘Don’t let this thing upset you. There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. Press the battle against the city and conquer it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

  • 1 Chr 21:3-4
    2 verses
    70%

    3 Joab replied,“May the LORD make his army a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?”

    4 But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem.

  • 57 So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand.

  • 69%

    20 Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them.

    21 Now David had been thinking,“In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

  • 12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.

  • 8 “Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim. He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised him by the LORD,‘I will not strike you down with the sword.’

  • 69%

    11 Joab replied to the man who was telling him this,“What! You saw this? Why didn’t you strike him down right on the spot? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a commemorative belt!”

    12 The man replied to Joab,“Even if I were receiving a thousand pieces of silver, I would not strike the king’s son! In our very presence the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai,‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’

    13 If I had acted at risk of my own life– and nothing is hidden from the king!– you would have abandoned me.”

  • 69%

    21 Abishai son of Zeruiah replied,“For this should not Shimei be put to death? After all, he cursed the LORD’s anointed!”

    22 But David said,“What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? You are like my enemy today! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t I know that today I am king over Israel?”

  • 29 May his blood whirl over the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! May the males of Joab’s house never cease to have someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

  • 8 Abishai said to David,“Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear right through him into the ground with one swift jab! A second jab won’t be necessary!”

  • 20 Abishai the brother of Joab was head of the three elite warriors. He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame along with the three elite warriors.

  • 5 So Joab visited the king at his home. He said,“Today you have embarrassed all your servants who have saved your life this day, as well as the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your concubines.

  • 3 Go to the king and speak to him in the following fashion.” Then Joab told her what to say.

  • 26 Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah.(But David was not aware of it.)

  • 15 David said to him,“Can you take us down to this raiding party?” He said,“Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to this raiding party.”

  • 5 “You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me– how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained the belt on his waist and the sandals on his feet.

  • 6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, who was the LORD’s chosen one.” The king replied,“I will turn them over.”