Absalom had made Amasa general in command of the army in place of Joab. (Now Amasa was the son of an Israelite man named Jether, who had married Abigail the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother.)

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

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

So Amasa went out to call Judah together. But in doing so he took longer than the time that the king had allotted him.

When they were near the big rock that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire and had a dagger in its sheath belted to his waist. When he advanced, it fell out.

Joab said to Amasa, "How are you, my brother?" With his right hand Joab took hold of Amasa's beard as if to greet him with a kiss.

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.

One of Joab's soldiers who stood over Amasa said, "Whoever is for Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!"

Amasa was squirming in his own blood in the middle of the path, and this man had noticed that all the soldiers stopped. Having noticed that everyone who came across Amasa stopped, the man pulled him away from the path and into the field and threw a garment over him.

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