2 Samuel 2
2
1And it cometh to pass afterwards, that David asketh at Jehovah, saying, ‘Do I go up into one of the cities of Judah?’ and Jehovah saith unto him, ‘Go up.’ And David saith, ‘Whither do I go up?’ and He saith, ‘To Hebron.’
2And David goeth up thither, and also his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite;
3and his men who [are] with him hath David brought up — a man and his household — and they dwell in the cities of Hebron.
4And the men of Judah come, and anoint there David for king over the house of Judah; and they declare to David, saying, ‘The men of Jabesh-Gilead [are] they who buried Saul.’
5And David sendeth messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and saith unto them, ‘Blessed [are] ye of Jehovah, in that ye have done this kindness with your lord, with Saul, that ye bury him.
6‘And, now, Jehovah doth with you kindness and truth, and also, I do with you this good because ye have done this thing;
7and now, are your hands strong, and be ye for sons of valour, for your lord Saul [is] dead, and also — me have the house of Judah anointed for king over them.’
8And Abner, son of Ner, head of the host which Saul hath, hath taken Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, and causeth him to pass over to Mahanaim,
9and causeth him to reign over Gilead, and over the Ashurite, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over Israel — all of it.
10A son of forty years, [is] Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, in his reigning over Israel, and two years he hath reigned, only the house of Judah have been after David.
11And the number of the days that David hath been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months.
12And Abner son of Ner goeth out, and servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
13And Joab son of Zeruiah, and servants of David, have gone out, and they meet by the pool of Gibeon together, and sit down, these by the pool on this [side], and these by the pool on that.
14And Abner saith unto Joab, ‘Let the youths rise, I pray thee, and they play before us;’ and Joab saith, ‘Let them rise.’
15And they rise and pass over, in number twelve of Benjamin, even of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
16And they lay hold, each on the head of his companion, and his sword [is] in the side of his companion, and they fall together, and [one] calleth that place Helkath-Hazzurim, which [is] in Gibeon,
17and the battle is very hard on that day, and Abner is smitten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.
18And there are there three sons of Zeruiah, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, and Asahel [is] light on his feet, as one of the roes which [are] in the field,
19And Asahel pursueth after Abner, and hath not turned aside to go to the right or to the left, from after Abner.
20And Abner looketh behind him, and saith, ‘Art thou he — Asahel?’ and he saith, ‘I [am].’
21And Abner saith to him, ‘Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and seize for thee one of the youths, and take to thee his armour;’ and Asahel hath not been willing to turn aside from after him.
22And Abner addeth again, saying unto Asahel, ‘Turn thee aside from after me, why do I smite thee to the earth? and how do I lift up my face unto Joab thy brother?’
23And he refuseth to turn aside, and Abner smiteth him with the hinder part of the spear unto the fifth [rib], and the spear cometh out from behind him, and he falleth there, and dieth under it; and it cometh to pass, every one who hath come unto the place where Asahel hath fallen and dieth — they stand still.
24And Joab and Abishai pursue after Abner, and the sun hath gone in, and they have come in unto the height of Ammah, which [is] on the front of Giah, the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
25And the sons of Benjamin gather themselves together after Abner, and become one troop, and stand on the top of a certain height,
26and Abner calleth unto Joab, and saith, ‘For ever doth the sword consume? hast thou not known that it is bitterness in the latter end? and till when dost thou not say to the people to turn back from after their brethren?’
27And Joab saith, ‘God liveth! for unless thou hadst spoken, surely then from the morning had the people gone up each from after his brother.’
28And Joab bloweth with a trumpet, and all the people stand still, and pursue no more after Israel, nor have they added any more to fight.
29And Abner and his men have gone through the plain all that night, and pass over the Jordan, and go on [through] all Bithron, and come in to Mahanaim.
30And Joab hath turned back from after Abner, and gathereth all the people, and there are lacking of the servants of David nineteen men, and Asahel;
31and the servants of David have smitten of Benjamin, even among the men of Abner, three hundred and sixty men — they died.
32And they lift up Asahel, and bury him in the burying-place of his father, which [is] in Beth-Lehem, and they go all the night — Joab and his men — and it is light to them in Hebron.
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2 Samuel 2: YLT98
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
2 Samuel 2
2
David, king of Judah
1Later, David asked the LORD, “Should I go back to one of the towns of Judah?”
The LORD answered, “Yes.”
David asked, “Which town should I go to?”
“Go to Hebron,” the LORD replied.
2David went to Hebron with his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. Ahinoam was from Jezreel, and Abigail was the widow of Nabal from Carmel.#1 S 25.42,43. 3David also took his men and their families to live in the villages near Hebron.
4The people of Judah met with David at Hebron and poured olive oil on his head to show that he was their new king. Then they told David, “The people from Jabesh in Gilead buried Saul.”#1 S 31.11-13.
5David sent messengers to tell them:
The LORD bless you! You were kind enough to bury Saul your ruler, 6and I pray that the LORD will be kind and faithful to you. I will be your friend because of what you have done. 7Saul is dead, but the tribe of Judah has made me their king. So be strong and have courage.
Ishbosheth becomes king of Israel
8Abner the son of Ner#2.8 son of Ner: Abner was Saul's cousin (see 1 Samuel 14.50). had been the general of Saul's army. He took Saul's son Ishbosheth#2.8 Ishbosheth: One ancient translation has “Ishbaal” (see also 1 Chronicles 8.33). In Hebrew “baal” means “lord” and was used as the name of a Canaanite god. The people of Israel often changed “baal” to “bosheth” (which means “shame”) in personal names. Ishbosheth was probably called Ishvi or Ishyo in 1 Samuel 14.49. across the River Jordan to Mahanaim 9and made him king of Israel,#2.9 Israel: Sometimes “Israel” means the northern tribes and does not include the tribes of Judah and Simeon. That is how it is used in this verse. including the areas of Gilead, Asher,#2.9 Asher: The Hebrew text has “Ashur”, which is the Hebrew name for the Assyrians. It may be another spelling for Asher (one of the tribes of Israel) or it may refer to Geshur (a small area between Gilead and Jezreel, east of Lake Galilee). Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin. 10Ishbosheth was forty years old at the time, and he ruled for two years. But the tribe of Judah made David their king, 11and he ruled from Hebron for seven and a half years.
The war between David and Ishbosheth
12One day, Abner and the soldiers of Ishbosheth#2.12 Ishbosheth: See the note at 2.8. left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. 13Meanwhile, Joab the son of Zeruiah#2.13 the son of Zeruiah: Zeruiah was David's elder sister, so Joab was David's nephew (see 1 Chronicles 2.12-17 and the note at 2 Samuel 17.25). was leading David's soldiers, and the two groups met at the pool in Gibeon.#2.13 pool in Gibeon: This pool was just inside the city wall and was used for storing water. It was in the shape of a circle and was about 11 metres wide and about 11 metres deep. Abner and his men sat down on one side of the pool, while Joab and his men sat on the other side. 14Abner yelled to Joab, “Let's get some of our best soldiers to stand up and fight each other!”
Joab agreed, 15and twelve of Ishbosheth's men from the tribe of Benjamin got up to fight twelve of David's men. 16They grabbed each other by the hair and stabbed each other in the side with their daggers. They all died there! That's why the place in Gibeon is called “Field of Daggers”.#2.16 Field of Daggers: Or “Field of Opponents” or “Battlefield”. 17Then everyone started fighting. Both sides fought very hard, but David's soldiers defeated Abner and the soldiers of Israel.
18Zeruiah's three sons were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel could run as fast as a deer in an open field, 19and he ran straight after Abner, without looking to the right or to the left.
20When Abner turned and saw him, he said, “Is that you, Asahel?”
Asahel answered, “Yes it is.”
21Abner said, “There are soldiers all around. Stop chasing me and fight one of them! Kill him and take his clothes and weapons for yourself.”
But Asahel refused to stop.
22Abner said, “If you don't turn back, I'll have to kill you! Then I could never face your brother Joab again.”
23But Asahel would not turn back, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the back end of his spear. The spear went all the way through and came out of his back. Asahel fell down and died. Everyone who saw Asahel lying dead just stopped and stood still. 24But Joab and Abishai went after Abner. Finally, about sunset, they came to the hill of Ammah, not far from Giah on the road to Gibeon Desert. 25Abner brought the men of Benjamin together in one group on top of a hill, and they got ready to fight.
26Abner shouted to Joab, “Aren't we ever going to stop killing each other? Don't you know that the longer we keep on doing this, the worse it's going to be when it's all over? When are you going to order your men to stop chasing their own relatives?”
27Joab shouted back, “I swear by the living God, if you hadn't spoken, my men would have chased their relatives all night!” 28Joab took his trumpet and blew the signal for his soldiers to stop chasing the soldiers of Israel. Straight away, the fighting stopped.
29Abner and his troops marched through the Jordan valley all that night. Then they crossed the river and marched all morning#2.29 all morning: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. until they arrived back at Mahanaim.
30As soon as Joab stopped chasing Abner, he got David's troops together and counted them. There were nineteen missing besides Asahel. 31But David's soldiers had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin. 32Joab and his troops carried Asahel's body to Bethlehem and buried him in the family burial place. Then they marched all night and reached Hebron before sunrise.
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