Joab

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

1. Son of David's sister

• 1 Chronicles 2:16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the three sons of Zeruiah were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

Commander of David's army

• 2 Samuel 8:16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;
• 2 Samuel 20:23 Now Joab was over the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites;
• 1 Chronicles 11:6 Now David had said, “Whoever is the first to strike down a Jebusite will become chief commander.” And Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and he became the chief.
• 1 Chronicles 18:15 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;
• 1 Chronicles 27:34 Ahithophel was succeeded by Jehoiada son of Benaiah, then by Abiathar. Joab was the commander of the king’s army.

Dedicated the plunder of his battles

• 1 Chronicles 26:28 Everything that had been dedicated by Samuel the seer, Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner, and Joab son of Zeruiah, along with everything else that was dedicated, was under the care of Shelomith and his brothers.

Defeated the Jebusites

• 1 Chronicles 11:6 Now David had said, “Whoever is the first to strike down a Jebusite will become chief commander.” And Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and he became the chief.

Defeats and kills Abner

• 2 Samuel 2:13–32 So Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. And the two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool. Then Abner said to Joab, “Let us have the young men get up and compete before us.” “Let them get up,” Joab replied. So they got up and…
• 2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
• 1 Kings 2:5 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.

Destroys all the males in Edom

• 1 Kings 11:16 Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

(See title)

• Psalm 60 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us!… (whole chapter)

Defeats the Ammonites

• 2 Samuel 10:7–14 On hearing this, David sent Joab and the entire army of mighty men. The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country. When Joab saw the battle line…
• 1 Chronicles 19:6–15 When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah. So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the king of Ma…

Captures Rabbah

• 2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
• 2 Samuel 11:15–25 In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were. And when the men of the city came out and fought aga…
• 2 Samuel 12:26–29 Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress. Then Joab sent messengers to David to say, “I have fought against Rabbah and have captured the water supply of the city. Now, therefore, assemble the rest of the troops, lay siege to the city, and capture it. Ot…
• 1 Chronicles 20:1–2 In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it. Then David took the crown from the head of their king. It was found to…

Procures the return of Absalom to Jerusalem

• 2 Samuel 14:1–24 Now Joab son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart longed for Absalom. So Joab sent to Tekoa to bring a wise woman from there. He told her, “Please pretend to be a mourner; put on clothes for mourning and do not anoint yourself with oil. Act like a woman who has mourned for the dead a long tim…

Barley field of, burned by Absalom

• 2 Samuel 14:29–33 Then he sent for Joab to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So Absalom sent a second time, but Joab still would not come. Then Absalom said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field…

Pursues and kills Absalom

• 2 Samuel 18 Then David reviewed his troops and appointed over them commanders of thousands and of hundreds. He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will surely march out with you as… (whole chapter)

Censures David for lamenting the death of Absalom

• 2 Samuel 19:1–8 Then it was reported to Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.” And that day’s victory was turned into mourning for all the people, because on that day they were told, “The king is grieving over his son.” So they returned to the city quietly that day, as people steal away in humiliat…

Replaced by Amasa as commander of David's army

• 2 Samuel 17:25 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 to Amasa, ‘Aren’t you my flesh and blood? May God punish me, and ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab!’”

Kills Amasa

• 2 Samuel 20:8–13 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. “Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amas…
• 1 Kings 2:5 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.

Causes Sheba to be put to death

• 2 Samuel 20:16–22 a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here so that I may speak with him.” When he had come near to her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” “I am,” he replied. “Listen to the words of your servant,” she said. “I am listening,” he answered. Then the woman said…

Opposes the numbering of the people

• 2 Samuel 24:3 But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”
• 1 Chronicles 21:3 But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

Numbers the people

• 2 Samuel 24:4–9 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army departed from the presence of the king to register the troops of Israel. They crossed the Jordan and camped near Aroer, south of the town in the middle of the valley…
• 1 Chronicles 21:4–5 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem. And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.
• 1 Chronicles 27:23–24 David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky. Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of…

Supports Adonijah as successor to David

• 1 Kings 1:7 So Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, who supported him.
• 1 Kings 2:28 When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.

Killed by Benaiah, under Solomon's order

• 1 Kings 2:29–34 It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and is now beside the altar.” So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down!” And Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But Joab replied, “No, I will die her…

2. A grandson of Kenaz

• 1 Chronicles 4:14 Meonothai was the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of those living in Ge-harashim, which was given this name because its people were craftsmen.

3. An Israelite (or the name of two Israelites) whose descendants returned from Babylon to Jerusalem

• Ezra 2:6 the descendants of Pahath-moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab), 2,812;
• Ezra 8:9 from the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;
• Nehemiah 7:11 the descendants of Pahath-moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab), 2,818;

4. "The household of Joab,"

• 1 Chronicles 2:54 The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, half the Manahathites, the Zorites,

Probably identical with number one