2 Samuel 2:12–32

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. ^hThe 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—12 for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and 12 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. ⁱ

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. ^jAsahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles. ^k19He 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?” ^l

²³But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner hit him in the stomach with the end of his spear. The spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there. When all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, they stopped, ²⁴but 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 single 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.” ^m28Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, 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, ⁿand arrived at Mahanaim. ^o

³⁰When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, 19 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.