16And a wise woman calleth out of the city, `Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, and I speak unto thee.`
17And he cometh near unto her, and the woman saith, `Art thou Joab?` and he saith, `I [am].` And she saith to him, `Hear the words of thy handmaid;` and he saith, `I am hearing.`
18and she speaketh, saying, `They spake often in former times, saying, Let them diligently ask at Abel, and so they finished.
19I [am] of the peaceable -- faithful ones of Israel; thou art seeking to destroy a city, and a mother in Israel; why dost thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah?
20And Joab answereth and saith, `Far be it -- far be it from me; I do not swallow up nor destroy.
21The matter [is] not so; for a man of the hill-country of Ephraim -- Sheba son of Bichri his name -- hath lifted up his hand against the king, against David; give ye up him by himself, and I go away from the city.` And the woman saith unto Joab, `Lo, his head is cast unto thee over the wall.`
22And the woman cometh unto all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri, and cast [it] unto Joab, and he bloweth with a trumpet, and they are scattered from the city, each to his tents, and Joab hath turned back to Jerusalem unto the king.
