When they were at the large stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was dressed in his military attire, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened at his waist; and as he went forward, it fell out.

He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,

A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee;