2 Samuel 2–4

DAVID, KING OF JUDAH

2Some time later, David inquired of the Lord:^b “Should I go to one of the towns of Judah?”

The Lord answered him, “Go.”

Then David asked, “Where should I go?”

“To Hebron,”^c the Lord replied.

²So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.^{d 3}In addition, David brought the men who were with him, each one with his family, and they settled in the towns near Hebron.^{e 4}Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.^f They told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”^g

⁵David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “The Lord bless you because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him. ⁶Now, may the Lord show kindness and faithfulness to you, and I will also show the same goodness to you because you have done this deed. ⁷Therefore, be strong^D and valiant, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

⁸Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army,^h took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth^F and moved him to Mahanaim. ⁹He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin—over all Israel. ¹⁰Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel; he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. ¹¹The length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.ⁱ

¹²Abner son of Ner and soldiers of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³So Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon.^j The two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.

¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have the young men get up and compete in front of us.”

“Let them get up,” Joab replied.

¹⁵So they got up and were counted off—twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s soldiers. ¹⁶Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side so that they all died together. So this place, which is in Gibeon, is named Field of Blades.^A

¹⁷The battle that day was extremely fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers. ¹⁸The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel.^k Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles.^{l 19}He chased Abner and did not turn to the right or the left in his pursuit of him. ²⁰Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?”

“Yes it is,” Asahel replied.

²¹Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or left, seize one of the young soldiers, and take whatever you can get from him.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him. ²²Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I ever look your brother Joab in the face?”^m

²³But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner hit him in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there. As they all came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, they stopped,^{* 24}but Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵The Benjaminites rallied to Abner; they formed a unit and took their stand on top of a hill. ²⁶Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

²⁷“As God lives,” Joab replied, “if you had not spoken up, the troops wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their brothers until morning.”^{n 28}Then Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight. ²⁹So Abner and his men marched through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning,^B and arrived at Mahanaim.^a

³⁰When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing, ³¹but they had killed 360 of the Benjaminites and Abner’s men. ³²Afterward, they carried Asahel to his father’s tomb in Bethlehem and buried him. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at dawn.

CIVIL WAR

3During the long war between the house of Saul and the house of David,^b David was growing stronger^c and the house of Saul was becoming weaker.

²Sons were born to David in Hebron:

His firstborn was Amnon,^d

by Ahinoam^e the Jezreelite;

³his second was Chileab,

by Abigail,^f the widow of Nabal the Carmelite;

the third was Absalom,^g

son of Maacah the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;^h

⁴the fourth was Adonijah,ⁱ

son of Haggith;

the fifth was Shephatiah,

son of Abital;

⁵the sixth was Ithream,

by David’s wife Eglah.

These were born to David in Hebron.^j

⁶During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner kept acquiring more power in the house of Saul.^{k 7}Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah^l daughter of Aiah, and Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

⁸Abner was very angry about Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I a dog’s head^Am who belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I’ve been loyal to the family of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends and haven’t betrayed you to David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman! ⁹May God punish Abner and do so severely if I don’t do for David what the Lord swore to him: ¹⁰to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judahⁿ from Dan to Beer-sheba.” ¹¹Ish-bosheth did not dare respond to Abner because he was afraid of him.

¹²Abner sent messengers as his representatives to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make your covenant with me, and you can be certain I am on your side to turn all Israel over to you.”

¹³David replied, “Good, I will make a covenant with you. However, there’s one thing I require of you: You will not see my face unless you first bring Saul’s daughter Michal^o when you come to see me.”

¹⁴Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, “Give me back my wife Michal. I was engaged to her for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.”^p

¹⁵So Ish-bosheth sent someone to take her away from her husband, Paltiel son of Laish.^{q 16}Her husband followed her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Abner said to him, “Go back.” So he went back.

THE ASSASSINATION OF ABNER

¹⁷Abner conferred with the elders of Israel: “In the past you wanted David to be king over you. ¹⁸Now take action, because the Lord has spoken concerning David: ‘Through my servant David I will save my people Israel from the power of the Philistines and the power of all Israel’s enemies.’ ”

¹⁹Abner also informed the Benjaminites and went to Hebron to inform David about all that was agreed on by Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.^{r 20}When Abner and twenty men came to David at Hebron, David held a banquet for him and his men.

²¹Abner said to David, “Let me now go and I will gather all Israel to my lord the king. They will make a covenant with you,^s and you will reign over all you desire.” So David dismissed Abner, and he went in peace.

²²Just then David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid and brought a large amount of plundered goods with them. Abner was not with David in Hebron because David had dismissed him, and he had gone in peace. ²³When Joab and his whole army arrived, Joab was informed, “Abner son of Ner came to see the king, the king dismissed him, and he went in peace.”

²⁴Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look here, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he’s getting away. ²⁵You know that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to find out about your military activities^A and everything you’re doing.” ²⁶Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well^B of Sirah, but David was unaware of it. ²⁷When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside to the middle of the city gate, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died in revenge for the death of Asahel,^C Joab’s brother.^a

²⁸David heard about it later and said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. ²⁹May it hang over Joab’s head and his father’s whole family, and may the house of Joab never be without someone who has a discharge or a skin disease,^b or a man who can only work a spindle,^D or someone who falls by the sword or starves.” ³⁰Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.^c

³¹David then ordered Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth,^d and mourn over Abner.” And King David walked behind the coffin.^E

³²When they buried Abner in Hebron, the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept, ³³and the king sang a lament for Abner:^e

Should Abner die as a fool dies?

³⁴Your hands were not bound,

your feet not placed in bronze shackles.

You fell like one who falls victim to criminals.

And all the people wept over him even more.

³⁵Then they came to urge David to eat food while it was still day, but David took an oath: “May God punish me and do so severely if I taste bread or anything else before sunset!”^{f 36}All the people took note of this, and it pleased them. In fact, everything the king did pleased them. ³⁷On that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the killing of Abner son of Ner.

³⁸Then the king said to his soldiers, “You must know that a great leader has fallen in Israel today. ³⁹As for me, even though I am the anointed king, I have little power today. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me.^g May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil!”^h

THE ASSASSINATION OF…