---
title: "2 Samuel 20:18-20 KJV - \"Then she spake, saying, They were wont...\" | Real Bible Believers"
description: "\"Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the\" — Read 2 Samuel 20:18-20 in the King James Version (KJV) with commentary, cross references, and Greek/Hebrew lexicon."
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url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/2-samuel/20/18-20"
---

[ Read](/kjv/2-samuel/20)[ Commentary](/study/2-samuel/20)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/2-samuel/20) Audio

## 2 Samuel 20:18-20 in Context (Verses 15–23 KJV)
 
 [15 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/15) And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that *were* with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.**
 
 [16 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/16) ¶ Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee.
 
 [17 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/17) And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, *Art* thou Joab? And he answered, I *am he*. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear.
 
 [18 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/18) Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask *counsel* at Abel: and so they ended *the matter*.*
 
 [19 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/19) I *am one of them that are* peaceable *and* faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
 
 [20 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/20) And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
 
 [21 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/21) The matter *is* not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, *even* against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.*
 
 [22 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/22) Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast *it* out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.*
 
 [23 ](/kjv/2-samuel/20/23) ¶ Now Joab *was* over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada *was* over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites:
 
[2 Samuel 19](/kjv/2-samuel/19) [2 Samuel 21](/kjv/2-samuel/21)

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