Amasa

Amasa is an Ishmaelite living at the time of the united monarchy. He is named in 11 verses of the Bible, first in 2 Samuel 17:25.

Family

Verses

2 Samuel

• 2 Samuel 17:25
  And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab: which Amasa was a man’s son, whose name was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab’s mother.Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra, the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab.
• 2 Samuel 19:13
  And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.And say to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from this time you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”
• 2 Samuel 20:4
  Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present.Then the king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.”
• 2 Samuel 20:5
  So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him.So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time allotted him.
• 2 Samuel 20:8
  When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.And while they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire, with a dagger strapped to his belt. And as he stepped forward, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.
• 2 Samuel 20:9
  And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.“Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.
• 2 Samuel 20:10
  But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.
• 2 Samuel 20:12
  And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still.But Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the road, and when the man saw that all the troops were stopping there, he dragged the body off the road into a field and threw a garment over it.

1 Kings

• 1 Kings 2:5
  Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
• 1 Kings 2:32
  And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

1 Chronicles

• 1 Chronicles 2:17
  And Abigail bare Amasa: and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmeelite.Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

Notes

1. Names, family links and verses from STEPBible's Translators Individualised Proper Names (TIPNR), STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
2. Where several people share a name, which verses belong to which person, and the family links, follow STEPBible's identifications; some are uncertain and are marked so.