Second Book of Samuel 2

¹ After this David consulted Yahweh. ‘Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?’ he asked. Yahweh answered, ‘Go up’. ‘Which shall I go to?’ David asked. ‘To Hebron’ was the reply.

² So David went up, with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the wife of Nabal from Carmel.

³ The men who were with him, David made go up too, each with his family, and they settled in the towns of Hebron.

⁴ There the men of Judah came and anointed David king over the House of Judah.

⁵ They told David that the people of Jabesh-gilead had given Saul burial, so David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead. ‘May you be blessed by Yahweh’ he said ‘for doing this kindness to Saul your lord, and for burying him.

⁶ And now may Yahweh show kindness and faithfulness to you! I too shall treat you well because you have done this.

⁷ And now take courage and be men of valour. Saul your lord is dead, but the House of Judah has anointed me to be their king.’

⁸ Abner son of Ner, Saul’s army commander, had taken Ishbaal son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

⁹ He had made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin, and indeed over all Israel.

¹⁰ Ishbaal son of Saul was forty years old when he became king of Israel, and he reigned for two years. Only the House of Judah supported David.

¹¹ The length of David’s reign over Judah in Hebron was seven years and six months.

¹² Abner son of Ner with Ishbaal’s followers marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

¹³ Joab son of Zeruiah with David’s followers also marched out, encountering them by the Pool of Gibeon. There they halted, one party on one side of the pool, and the other opposite.

¹⁴ Then Abner said to Joab, ‘Let the young soldiers come forward and hold a contest before us’. ‘Let them come forward’ Joab replied.

¹⁵ So they came forward and were numbered off, twelve from Benjamin for Ishbaal son of Saul, and twelve of David’s followers.

¹⁶ Each caught his adversary by the head and drove his sword into his side so that they all fell together. Hence the place was called the Field of Sides; it is at Gibeon.

¹⁷ That day a very fierce battle took place, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten by David’s followers.

¹⁸ The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift-footed as a wild gazelle.

¹⁹ Asahel set off in pursuit of Abner turning neither to right nor to left as he went in pursuit of him.

²⁰ Abner turned. ‘Asahel,’ he said ‘is that you?’ He answered, ‘It is’.

²¹ ‘Turn to your right or your left,’ Abner said ‘catch one of the soldiers and take his spoil.’ But Asahel would not break off the pursuit.

²² Again Abner spoke to Asahel, ‘Stop pursuing me, unless you want me to strike you to the ground; and then how could I look your brother Joab in the face again?’

²³ But he refused to turn away, so Abner struck him in the belly with the butt of his spear so that the spear came out at his back; and he fell there and died on the spot. On coming to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, everyone halted.

²⁴ Joab and Abishai took up the pursuit of Abner and at sunset reached the Hill of Ammah, which is to the east of the valley, on the road to Giah.

²⁵ The Benjaminites gathered behind Abner in close formation and halted at the top of the Hill of Ammah.

²⁶ Abner called out to Joab, ‘Is the sword to go on eating its fill for ever?’ he said. ‘Do you not know that this will end in disaster? How long will it be before you order these people to stop pursuing their brothers?’

²⁷ ‘As Yahweh lives,’ Joab replied ‘if you had not spoken, these men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until morning.’

²⁸ Joab then sounded the trumpet and all the troops halted; they pursued Israel no further and fought no more.

²⁹ All that night Abner and his men made their way through the Arabah;[*a] they crossed the Jordan and, marching throughout the morning, came to Mahanaim.

³⁰ Joab, giving up the pursuit of Abner, mustered his whole force; David’s followers had lost nineteen men in addition to Asahel,

³¹ but had killed three hundred and sixty of Benjamin, Abner’s men.

³² They took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which is at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched throughout the night and day dawned as they reached Hebron.