26 Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?”

27 Joab answered, “As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued pursuing them until morning.”

28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight anymore.

29 All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, continued through the morning hours and came to Mahanaim.

30 Then Joab stopped pursuing Abner and assembled the whole army. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were found missing. 31 But David’s men had killed three hundred and sixty Benjamites who were with Abner.

26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren? 27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother. 28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more. 29 And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim. 30 And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.

26 Abner shouted down to Joab, “Must we always be killing each other? Don’t you realize that bitterness is the only result? When will you call off your men from chasing their Israelite brothers?”

27 Then Joab said, “God only knows what would have happened if you hadn’t spoken, for we would have chased you all night if necessary.” 28 So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and his men stopped chasing the troops of Israel.

29 All that night Abner and his men retreated through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River, traveling all through the morning, and didn’t stop until they arrived at Mahanaim.

30 Meanwhile, Joab and his men also returned home. When Joab counted his casualties, he discovered that only 19 men were missing in addition to Asahel. 31 But 360 of Abner’s men had been killed, all from the tribe of Benjamin.

26 Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”

27 And Joab said, “As God lives, unless you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.” 28 So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore. 29 Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim.

30 So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died.

26 Abner shouted to Joab, “Must the sword kill forever? Surely you must know this will only end in sadness! Tell the people to stop chasing their own brothers!”

27 Then Joab said, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said anything, the people would have chased their brothers until morning.” 28 Then Joab blew a trumpet, and his people stopped chasing the Israelites. They did not fight them anymore.

29 Abner and his men marched all night through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River, and after marching all day, arrived at Mahanaim.

30 After he had stopped chasing Abner, Joab came back and gathered the people together. Asahel and nineteen of David’s men were missing. 31 But David’s men had killed three hundred sixty Benjaminites who had followed Abner.

26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren? 27 And Joab said, As God liveth, if thou hadst not spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone away, nor followed every one his brother. 28 So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more. 29 And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim.

30 And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.

26 And Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? and how long shall it be ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren? 27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother. 28 And Joab blew the trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither did they fight any more. 29 And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim. 30 And Joab returned from following Abner, and gathered all the people together; and there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men, and Asahel. 31 And the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men, who had died.

26 Then Abner called to Joab, “Should this slaughter go on forever? Don’t you know this will end in bitterness? How long will it be before you will call off your troops from chasing their relatives?” 

27 Joab answered, “I solemnly swear, as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would not have stopped chasing their relatives until morning.” 28 So Joab blew a ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped. They didn’t chase or fight Israel anymore. 

29 Abner and his men marched through the plains all that night. They crossed the Jordan River and passed through the entire Bithron until they came to Mahanaim. 

30 Joab returned from chasing Abner. When he had gathered all the troops, ⸤only⸥ 19 of David’s officers and Asahel were missing. 31 However, David’s officers had killed 360 of the men of Benjamin under Abner’s command.

26 Then 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.” 28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight. 29 So Abner and his men marched through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning, and arrived at Mahanaim.

30 When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, 19 of David’s soldiers were missing, 31 but they had killed 360 of the Benjaminites and Abner’s men.

26 Then Abner called to Joab, “Is the sword to keep devouring forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you order your people to turn from the pursuit of their kinsmen?” 27 Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, the people would have continued to pursue their kinsmen, not stopping until morning.” 28 Joab sounded the trumpet and all the people stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or engaged in battle any further.

29 Abner and his men traveled all that night through the Arabah; they crossed the Jordan, and, marching the whole forenoon, they came to Mahanaim. 30 Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner; and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men besides Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had killed of Benjamin three hundred sixty of Abner’s men.

26 Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Will the sword devour forever? Do you not know that there will be bitterness in the end? How long will you not tell the people to turn away from pursuing their brothers?” 27 Joab said, “As God lives, for if you had not spoken, the people would surely have gone up in the morning, each one of them from following after his brother.” 28 Then Joab blew on the trumpet and all the people stopped, and they no longer pursued after Israel, and they did not fight with them again.

29 Then Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night, and they crossed over the Jordan. They went all the forenoon and came to Mahanaim. 30 After Joab returned from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the people; nineteen of the servants of David were missing along with Asahel. 31 The servants of David had killed some of the Benjaminites among the men of Abner; three hundred and sixty men had died.

26 Abner called out to Joab, “Do you want our swords to keep on killing us off? Don’t you know that all of this fighting will end in bitter feelings? How long will it be before you order your men to stop chasing their fellow Israelites?”

27 Joab answered, “It’s a good thing you spoke up. If you hadn’t, the men would have kept on chasing their fellow Israelites until morning. And that’s just as sure as God is alive.”

28 So Joab blew a trumpet. All of the men stopped. They didn’t chase Israel anymore. They didn’t fight anymore either.

29 All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah Valley. They went across the Jordan River. They kept on going through the whole Bithron. Finally, they came to Mahanaim.

30 Then Joab returned from chasing Abner. He gathered all of his men together. Besides Asahel, only 19 of David’s men were missing. 31 But David’s men had killed 360 men from Benjamin who were with Abner.

26 Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? How long will you refrain from telling the people to turn back from following their brothers?”

27 Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then the people would have gone away in the morning, each from following his brother.”

28 So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people halted and pursued Israel no longer, nor did they continue to fight anymore.

29 Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to Mahanaim.

30 Then Joab returned from following Abner; when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen of David’s servants besides Asahel were missing.

31 But the servants of David had struck down many of Benjamin and Abner’s men, so that three hundred and sixty men died.