2 Samuel 2–4

Chapter 2

David Made King over Judah

¹Then it came about afterwards that ^aDavid inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” So David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “^bTo Hebron.”

²So David went up there, and ^ahis two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the ¹widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

³And ^aDavid brought up his men who were with him, each with his household; and they lived in the cities of Hebron.

⁴Then the men of Judah came and there ^aanointed David king over the house of Judah.

And they told David, saying, “It was ^bthe men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”

⁵David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, “^aMay you be blessed of the Lord because you have ¹shown this kindness to Saul your lord, and have buried him.

⁶“Now ^amay the Lord ¹show lovingkindness and truth to you; and I also will show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing.

⁷“Now therefore, let your hands be strong and be ¹valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Ish-bosheth Made King over Israel

⁸But ^aAbner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken ¹Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to ^bMahanaim.

⁹He made him king over ^aGilead, over the ^bAshurites, over ^cJezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, even over all Israel.

¹⁰Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he was king for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.

^11aThe ¹time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

Civil War

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 the 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.

¹⁶Each 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.

¹⁷That day the battle was very severe, and ^aAbner and the men of Israel were beaten 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.

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

²⁰Then Abner looked 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 take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

²²Abner 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 came about that all who came to the place where ^aAsahel had fallen and died, stood still.

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

²⁵The 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?”

²⁷Joab 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.”

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

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

³⁰Then Joab returned from following Abner; when he had gathered all the people together, 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 three hundred and sixty 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.

Chapter 3

The House of David Strengthened

¹Now ^athere was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; and David grew steadily stronger, but the house of Saul grew weaker continually.

^2aSons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by ^bAhinoam the Jezreelitess;

³and his second, Chileab, by Abigail the ¹widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of ^aMaacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of ^bGeshur;

⁴and the fourth, ^aAdonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;

⁵and the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David at Hebron.

Abner Joins David

⁶It came about while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David that ^aAbner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.

⁷Now Saul had a concubine whose name was ^aRizpah, the daughter of Aiah; and ¹Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?”

⁸Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “^aAm I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hands of David; and yet today you charge me with a guilt concerning the woman.

⁹“^aMay God do so to Abner, and more also, if ^bas the Lord has sworn to David, I do not accomplish this for him,

^10ato transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, ^bfrom Dan even to Beersheba.”

¹¹And he could no longer answer Abner a word, because he was afraid of him.

¹²Then Abner sent messengers to David in his place, saying, “Whose is the land? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring all Israel over to you.”

¹³He said, “Good! I will make a covenant with you, but I demand one thing of you, ¹namely, ^ayou shall not see my face unless you ^bfirst bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when you come to see ²me.”

¹⁴So David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, to whom I was betrothed ^afor a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”

¹⁵Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, from ¹Paltiel the son of Laish.

¹⁶But her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her as far as ^aBahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” So he returned.

¹⁷Now Abner had ¹consultation with ^athe elders of Israel, saying, “In times past you were seeking for David to be king over you.

¹⁸“Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, ‘^aBy the hand of My servant David ¹I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’ ”

¹⁹Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin; and in addition Abner went to speak in the hearing of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and to ^athe whole house of Benjamin.

²⁰Then Abner and twenty men with him came to David at Hebron. And David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.

²¹Abner said to David, “Let me arise and go and ^agather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that ^byou may be king over all that your soul desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

²²And behold, ^athe servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought much spoil with them; but Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.

²³When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, they told Joab, saying, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he has gone in peace.”

²⁴Then Joab came to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why then have you sent him away and he is already gone?

²⁵“You know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive you and to learn of ^ayour going out and coming in and to find out all that you are doing.”

Joab Murders Abner

²⁶When Joab came out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David did not know it.

²⁷So when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him privately, and there ^ahe struck him in the belly so that he died on account of the blood of Asahel his brother.

²⁸Afterward when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are innocent before the Lord forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

²⁹“^aMay it ¹fall on the head of Joab and on all his father’s house; and may there not fail from the house of Joab ^bone who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who takes hold of a distaff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.”

³⁰So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner ^abecause he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.

David Mourns Abner

³¹Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “^aTear your clothes and gird on sackcloth and lament before Abner.” And King David walked behind the bier.

³²Thus they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at ^athe grave of Abner, and all the people wept.

^33aThe king chanted a lament for Abner and said,

“Should…