And Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out also; and the two groups met by the pool of Gibeon, seating themselves with one group on either side of the pool. read more. And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise and have a contest before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. Then there arose and went over by number -- "twelve of Benjamin who were with Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his side; so they all fell together. Therefore that place was called the Field of Sharp Knives, which is at Gibeon. A very fierce battle followed, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. Three sons of Zeruiah [the half sister of David] were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe or antelope.

Three sons of Zeruiah [the half sister of David] were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe or antelope. Asahel pursued Abner, and as he ran he turned not to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. read more. Then Abner looked behind him and said, Are you Asahel? He answered, I am. Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right or left, and seize one of the young men and take his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I be able to face Joab your brother? Asahel refused to turn aside; so Abner with the rear end of his spear smote him through the abdomen, and he fell and died where he fell. And all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still. But Joab and Abishai [his brothers] pursued Abner; the sun was going down as they came to the hill of Ammah, before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. And the Benjamites gathered together behind Abner and became one troop and took their stand on the top of a hill. Then Abner called to Joab, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that bitterness will be the result? How long will it be then before you bid the people to stop pursuing their brethren? Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have stopped pursuing their brethren in the morning. So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight any more. Abner and his men went all night through the Arabah [plain], crossed the Jordan, and went through the whole Bithron [district of ravines] and came to Mahanaim. Joab returned from pursuing Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men walked all night and came to Hebron at daybreak.

Then the servants of David came with Joab from pursuing a troop and brought much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. When Joab and all the army with him had come, it was told to Joab, Abner son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he is gone in peace. read more. Then Joab came to the king and said, What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it you have sent him away and he is quite gone?

Then Joab came to the king and said, What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it you have sent him away and he is quite gone? You know that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and coming in and all you are doing.

You know that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and coming in and all you are doing. When Joab came from seeing David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David did not know it. read more. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside to the center of the gate to speak to him privately, and there he smote Abner in the abdomen, so that he died to avenge the blood of Asahel, Joab's brother.

Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent [him] Uriah. When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the people fared, and how the war progressed. read more. David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of food [a gift] from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. When they told David, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah live in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as my soul lives, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. David invited him, and he ate with him and drank, so that he made him drunk; but that night he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, Put Uriah in the front line of the heaviest fighting and withdraw from him, that he may be struck down and die. So when Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah opposite where he knew the enemy's most valiant men were. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David fell. Uriah the Hittite died also. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war. And he charged the messenger, When you have finished reporting matters of the war to the king, Then if the king's anger rises and he says to you, Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth (Gideon)? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? Then say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. So the messenger went and told David all for which Joab had sent him. The messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in to the field, but we were upon them even to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. Then David said to the messenger, Say to Joab, Let not this thing disturb you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack upon the city and overthrow it. And encourage Joab. When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for Uriah.

Then David arose from the floor, washed, anointed himself, changed his apparel, and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate.

Now Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart was toward Absalom.

The king commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom. So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. read more. [Absalom's] men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter that day of 20,000 men. For the battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more men that day than did the sword. Then Absalom [unavoidably] met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and Absalom's head caught fast [in a fork] of the oak; and the mule under him ran away, leaving him hanging between the heavens and the earth. A certain man saw it and told Joab, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. Joab said to the man, You saw him! Why did you not strike him down to the ground? I would have given you ten shekels of silver and a girdle. The man told Joab, Though I should receive 1,000 pieces of silver, yet I would not put forth my hand against the king's son. For in our hearing the king charged you, Abishai, and Ittai, Have a care, whoever you be, for the young man Absalom. Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life -- "for nothing is hidden from the king -- "you yourself would have taken sides against me. Joab said, I will not tarry thus with you. He took three darts in his hand and thrust them into the body of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

Joab said, I will not tarry thus with you. He took three darts in his hand and thrust them into the body of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

Joab said, I will not tarry thus with you. He took three darts in his hand and thrust them into the body of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded and struck Absalom and killed him. read more. Then Joab blew the trumpet, and the troops returned from pursuing Israel, for Joab restrained and spared them. They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest and raised a very great heap of stones upon him. And all Israel fled, everyone to his own home.

And Joab came into the house to the king and said, You have today covered the faces of all your servants with shame, who this day have saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. For you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for today I see that if Absalom had lived and all the rest of us had died, you would be well pleased.

For you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have declared today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for today I see that if Absalom had lived and all the rest of us had died, you would be well pleased. So now arise, go out and speak kindly and encouragingly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord that if you do not go, not a man will remain with you this night. And this will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now.

Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble the men of Judah to me within three days, and you be present here. So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah, but he tarried longer than the set time which had been appointed him. read more. And David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba son of Bichri do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get for himself fenced cities and snatch away our very eyes. And there went after him Joab's men and [David's bodyguards] the Cherethites and Pelethites and all the mighty men; they went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bichri. When they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a sheathed sword fastened around his hips; and as he went forward, it fell out. Joab said to Amasa, Are you well, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand [as if] to kiss him.

Joab said to Amasa, Are you well, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand [as if] to kiss him. But Amasa did not notice the sword in Joab's hand. So [Joab] struck him [who was to have been his successor] with it in the body, shedding his bowels to the ground without another blow; and [soon] he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

But Amasa did not notice the sword in Joab's hand. So [Joab] struck him [who was to have been his successor] with it in the body, shedding his bowels to the ground without another blow; and [soon] he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba son of Bichri. And one of Joab's men stood by him and said, Whoever favors Joab and is for David, follow Joab! read more. And Amasa wallowed in his blood in the highway. And when the man saw that all the people who came by stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field and spread a cloth over him. When Amasa was removed from the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri. Joab went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Berites assembled and also went after [Sheba] ardently. And they came and besieged Sheba in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a siege mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart; and all the men with Joab battered and undermined the wall to make it fall. Then a wise woman of the city cried, Hear, hear! Say to Joab, Come here so I can speak to you. And when he came near her, the woman said, Are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of your handmaid. He answered, I am listening. Then she said, People used to say, Let them but ask counsel at Abel, and so they settled the matter. I am one of the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city which is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? Joab answered, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy! That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said, Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall. Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and cast it down to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his own home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and cast it down to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his own home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

He conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah [David's half sister] and with Abiathar the priest, and they followed Adonijah and helped him.

You know also what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, whom he murdered, avenging in time of peace blood shed in war, and putting innocent blood of war on the girdle on his loins and on the sandals of his feet. Do therefore according to your wisdom, but let not his hoary head go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in peace.

So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed Joab, and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.

Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three.

Meonothai was father of Ophrah, and Seraiah of Joab the father of Ge-harashim [the Valley of Craftsmen], so named because they were craftsmen.

And David said, Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander. Joab son of Zeruiah [David's half sister] went up first, and so he was made chief. David dwelt in the stronghold; so it was called the City of David. read more. He built the city from the Millo [a fortification] on around; and Joab repaired and revived the rest of the [old Jebusite] city. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him.

The sons of Pahath-moab, namely of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812.

Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, with 218 men;

The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,818.

Lod, and Ono, the Valley of the Craftsmen.