(14) Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men come forward and sport before us.” “Yes, let them,” Joab answered. (15) They came forward and were counted off, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of David’s soldiers. (16) Each one grasped his opponent’s head [and thrust] his dagger into his opponent’s side; thus they fell together. That place, which is in Gibeon, was called Helkath-hazzurim. (17) A fierce battle ensued that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were routed by David’s soldiers. (18) The three sons of Zeruiah were there—Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was swift of foot, like a gazelle in the open field. (19) And Asahel ran after Abner, swerving neither right nor left in his pursuit of Abner. (20) Abner looked back and shouted, “Is that you, Asahel?” “Yes, it is,” he called back. (21) Abner said to him, “Turn to the right or to the left, and seize one of our boys and strip off his tunic.” But Asahel would not leave off. (22) Abner again begged Asahel, “Stop pursuing me, or I’ll have to strike you down. How will I look your brother Joab in the face?” (23) When he refused to desist, Abner struck him in the belly with a backward thrust of his spear and the spear protruded from his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died halted; (24) but Joab and Abishai continued to pursue Abner. And the sun was setting as they reached the hill of Ammah, which faces Giah on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon. (25) The Benjaminites rallied behind Abner, forming a single company; and they took up a position on the top of a hill. (26) Abner then called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? You know how bitterly it’s going to end! How long will you delay ordering your troops to stop the pursuit of their kinsmen?” (27) And Joab replied, “As God lives, if you hadn’t spoken up, the troops would have given up the pursuit of their kinsmen only the next morning.” (28) Joab then sounded the horn, and all the troops halted; they ceased their pursuit of Israel and stopped the fighting.
(20) When Abner came to David in Hebron, accompanied by twenty men, David made a feast for Abner and the men with him. (21) Abner said to David, “Now I will go and rally all Israel to Your Majesty. They will make a pact with you, and you can reign over all that your heart desires.” And David dismissed Abner, who went away unharmed. (22) Just then David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid, bringing much plunder with them; Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for he had been dismissed and had gone away unharmed. (23) When Joab and the whole force with him arrived, Joab was told that Abner son of Ner had come to the king, had been dismissed by him, and had gone away unharmed. (24) Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Here Abner came to you; why did you let him go? Now he has gotten away! (25) Don’t you know that Abner son of Ner came only to deceive you, to learn your comings and goings and to find out all that you are planning?” (26) Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; but David knew nothing about it. (27) When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside within the gate to talk to him privately; there he struck him in the belly. Thus [Abner] died for shedding the blood of Asahel, Joab’s brother. (28) Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “Both I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD of shedding the blood of Abner son of Ner. (29) May [the guilt] fall upon the head of Joab and all his father’s house. May the house of Joab never be without someone suffering from a discharge or an eruption, or a male who handles the spindle, or one slain by the sword, or one lacking bread.”— (30) Now Joab and his brother Abishai had killed Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel during the battle at Gibeon.—
(27) When David reached Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbath-ammon, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim (28) presented couches, basins, and earthenware; also wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched grain, (29) honey, curds, a flock, and cheese from the herd for David and the troops with him to eat. For they knew that the troops must have grown hungry, faint, and thirsty in the wilderness.
(32) Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelin and passed on to the Jordan with the king, to see him off at the Jordan. (33) Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age; and he had provided the king with food during his stay at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. (34) The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem at my side.” (35) But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years are left to me that I should go up with Your Majesty to Jerusalem? (36) I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between good and bad? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still listen to the singing of men and women? Why then should your servant continue to be a burden to my lord the king? (37) Your servant could barely cross the Jordan with your Majesty! Why should Your Majesty reward me so generously? (38) Let your servant go back, and let me die in my own town, near the graves of my father and mother. But here is your servant Chimham; let him cross with my lord the king, and do for him as you see fit.” (39) And the king said, “Chimham shall cross with me, and I will do for him as you see fit; and anything you want me to do, I will do for you.” (40) All the troops crossed the Jordan; and when the king was ready to cross, the king kissed Barzillai and bade him farewell; and [Barzillai] returned to his home.
(5) As King David was approaching Bahurim, a member of Saul’s clan—a man named Shimei son of Gera—came out from there, hurling insults as he came. (6) He threw stones at David and all King David’s courtiers, while all the troops and all the warriors were at his right and his left. (7) And these are the insults that Shimei hurled: “Get out, get out, you criminal, you villain! (8) The LORD is paying you back for all your crimes against the family of Saul, whose throne you seized. The LORD is handing over the throne to your son Absalom; you are in trouble because you are a criminal!” (9) Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why let that dead dog abuse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!” (10) But the king said, “What has this to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? He is abusing [me] only because the LORD told him to abuse David; and who is to say, ‘Why did You do that?’” (11) David said further to Abishai and all the courtiers, “If my son, my own issue, seeks to kill me, how much more the Benjaminite! Let him go on hurling abuse, for the LORD has told him to. (12) Perhaps the LORD will look upon my punishment and recompense me for the abuse [Shimei] has uttered today.” (13) David and his men continued on their way, while Shimei walked alongside on the slope of the hill, insulting him as he walked, and throwing stones at him and flinging dirt.
(16) The king started back and arrived at the Jordan; and the Judites went to Gilgal to meet the king and to conduct the king across the Jordan. (17) Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the Judites to meet King David, (18) accompanied by a thousand Benjaminites. And Ziba, the servant of the House of Saul, together with his fifteen sons and twenty slaves, rushed down to the Jordan ahead of the king (19) while the crossing was being made, to escort the king’s family over, and to do whatever he wished. Shimei son of Gera flung himself before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan. (20) He said to the king, “Let not my lord hold me guilty, and do not remember the wrong your servant committed on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem; let Your Majesty give it no thought. (21) For your servant knows that he has sinned; so here I have come down today, the first of all the House of Joseph, to meet my lord the king.” (22) Thereupon Abishai son of Zeruiah spoke up, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for that—insulting the LORD’s anointed?” (23) But David said, “What has this to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should cross me today? Should a single Israelite be put to death today? Don’t I know that today I am again king over Israel?” (24) Then the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die”; and the king gave him his oath.
(יא) וְהַיָּמִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר מָלַ֤ךְ דָּוִד֙ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָ֑ה בְּחֶבְר֤וֹן מָלַךְ֙ שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וּבִירֽוּשָׁלַ֣͏ִם מָלַ֔ךְ שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים וְשָׁלֹ֖שׁ שָׁנִֽים׃ (יב) וּשְׁלֹמֹ֕ה יָשַׁ֕ב עַל־כִּסֵּ֖א דָּוִ֣ד אָבִ֑יו וַתִּכֹּ֥ן מַלְכֻת֖וֹ מְאֹֽד׃ {ס}
(17) But Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?” (18) “Not at all!” Hushai replied. “I am for the one whom the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, and I will stay with him. (19) Furthermore, whom should I serve, if not David’s son? As I was in your father’s service, so I will be in yours.” (20) Absalom then said to Ahithophel, “What do you advise us to do?” (21) And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Have intercourse with your father’s concubines, whom he left to mind the palace; and when all Israel hears that you have dared the wrath of your father, all who support you will be encouraged.” (22) So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom lay with his father’s concubines with the full knowledge of all Israel.— (23) In those days, the advice which Ahithophel gave was accepted like an oracle sought from God; that is how all the advice of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and by Absalom.
(22) While Israel stayed in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Israel found out. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve in number.
(2) Assemble and hearken, O sons of Jacob; Hearken to Israel your father: (3) Reuben, you are my first-born, My might and first fruit of my vigor, Exceeding in rank And exceeding in honor. (4) Unstable as water, you shall excel no longer; For when you mounted your father’s bed, You brought disgrace—my couch he mounted!
The Gemara returns to discuss the incident of Joab: They brought Joab before Solomon, who judged him. Solomon said to Joab: What is the reason that you killed Abner? Joab said to him: I was the blood redeemer of the blood of Asahel; when Abner murdered my brother Asahel I killed him, in fulfillment of my duty as his blood redeemer. Solomon said to him: But Asahel was pursuing Abner with the intention of killing him, and therefore he had the status of a pursuer. Since Abner killed Asahel in an act of self-defense, you had no right to kill him as a redeemer of Asahel’s blood. Joab said to Solomon: Abner could have saved himself by wounding Asahel in one of his limbs. Having failed to do so, he was guilty of murder, and I was therefore entitled to kill him. Solomon said to him: Abner was not able to injure Asahel, because he was running and could not aim with precision. Joab said to Solomon: Now Abner was able to aim and hit him precisely in the fifth rib, as it is written: “And Abner smote him with the butt end of the spear in the ḥomesh” (II Samuel 2:23), and Rabbi Yoḥanan says that this means that he hit him in the fifth rib, the place where the gallbladder and liver hang. If Abner could aim with precision at the fifth rib, could he not have successfully aimed at one of Asahel’s limbs? Solomon said to Joab: Set aside Abner, as you have presented a convincing argument that you are not liable for his death. But what is the reason you killed Amasa? Abner said to him: I killed Amasa in punishment for his having rebelled against the king, as it is written: “And the king said to Amasa: Muster to me the men of Judah within three days, and be you here present. And Amasa went to call the men of Judah, but he was later than the set time that he had assigned to him” (II Samuel 20:4–5). Solomon said to him: Amasa was not guilty of rebelling against the king because he interpreted the words akh and rak in a restrictive manner, and in that way he limited the king’s authority. How so? Amasa found the men of Judah starting to study a new tractate. He said to himself: It is written: “Any man who rebels against your commandment, and will not listen to your words in all that you command him, he shall be put to death” (Joshua 1:18), indicating that the king of Israel has unlimited power. Based on these words alone, one might have thought that the king must be obeyed even when that would lead to abstention from the study of the words of Torah. Therefore, that same verse states: “Only [rak] be strong and of a good courage.” The word “rak” is a restrictive term that serves to limit the king’s authority in a situation where obeying his command will minimalize the study of Torah. Consequently, Amasa was justified when he did not muster the men of Judah at the appointed time, and you had no right to kill him. Solomon continued: Rather, the opposite is true. That man, you, Joab, rebelled against the king, as it is written: “Then tidings came to Joab, for Joab had followed after Adonijah, though he had not followed after Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar” (I Kings 2:28). Joab followed Adonijah, thereby rebelling against Solomon, the lawful king.