3. David had left ten of his wives in Jerusalem to take care of his palace. But when he came back, he had them taken to another house, and he placed soldiers there to guard them. He gave them whatever they needed, but he never slept with any of them again. They had to live there for the rest of their lives as if they were widows.
4. David said to Amasa, “Three days from now I want you and all of Judah's army to be here!”
5. Amasa started bringing the army together, but it was taking him more than three days.
6. So David said to Abishai, “Sheba will hurt us more than Absalom ever did. Take my best soldiers and go after him. We don't want him to take over any walled cities and get away from us.”
7. Abishai left Jerusalem to try and capture Sheba. He took along Joab and his soldiers, as well as David's bodyguard and best troops.
8. They had gone as far as the big rock at Gibeon when Amasa caught up with them. Joab had a dagger strapped around his waist over his military uniform, but it fell out as he started towards Amasa.
9. Joab said, “Amasa, my cousin, how are you?” Then Joab took hold of Amasa's beard with his right hand, so that he could greet him with a kiss.
10. Amasa did not see the dagger in Joab's other hand. Joab stuck it in Amasa's stomach, and his insides spilt out on the ground. Joab only struck him once, but Amasa was dying.Joab and his brother Abishai went off to chase Sheba.
11. One of Joab's soldiers stood by Amasa and shouted, “If any of you like Joab, and if you are for David, then follow Joab!”
12. Amasa was still rolling in his own blood in the middle of the road. The soldier who had shouted noticed that everyone who passed by would stop, so he dragged Amasa off the road and covered him with a blanket.
13. After this, no one else stopped. They all walked straight past him on their way to help Joab capture Sheba.
14. Sheba had gone through all the tribes of Israel when he came to the town of Abel Beth-Maacah. All his best soldiers met him there and followed him into the town.
15. Joab and his troops came and surrounded Abel, so that no one could go in or come out. They made an earth ramp up to the town wall and then started to use a battering ram to knock the wall down.