2 Samuel 2:12–32

Abner Defeated Before David

¹²Now Abner the son of Ner, went out from Mahanaim to ^aGibeon with the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul.

¹³And ^aJoab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met ¹them by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, ²one on the one side of the pool and ³the other on the other side of the pool.

¹⁴Then Abner said to Joab, “Now let the young men arise and ^1ahold a contest before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.”

¹⁵So they arose and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.

¹⁶And each one of them seized his ¹opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his ²opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called ³Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.

¹⁷And that day the battle was very severe, and ^aAbner and the men of Israel were ¹defeated before the servants of David.

¹⁸Now ^athe three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel; and Asahel was ^bas ¹swift-footed as one of the gazelles which is in the field.

¹⁹And Asahel pursued Abner and did not ¹turn to the right or to the left from following Abner.

²⁰Then Abner turned to look behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.”

²¹So Abner said to him, “¹Turn to your right or to your left, and seize one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

²²And Abner repeated again to Asahel, “Turn ¹aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? ^aHow then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?”

²³However, he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died on the spot. And it happened that all who came to the place where ^aAsahel had fallen and died, stood still.

²⁴But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. Now the sun was going down, and they came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵And the sons of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became one band, and they stood on the top of a certain hill.

²⁶Then 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 ¹refrain from telling the people to turn back from following their brothers?”

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

²⁸So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stood still and pursued Israel no longer, ^anor did they continue to fight anymore.

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

³⁰Now Joab returned from following Abner. And he had gathered all the people together, and ¹nineteen of David’s servants besides Asahel were missing.

³¹But the servants of David had struck down many of Benjamin and Abner’s men, so that 360 men died.

³²And they took up Asahel and buried him ^ain his father’s tomb which was in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men went all night until the day ¹dawned at Hebron.