⁵ Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner^(A) son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David^(A) going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner,^(B) whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.

⁵⁰ His wife’s name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of Saul’s army was Abner^(A) son of Ner, and Ner was Saul’s uncle.^{(B) 51} Saul’s father Kish^(C) and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.

³³ The king sang this lament^(A) for Abner:

And all the people wept over him again.

³⁵ Then they all came and urged David to eat something while it was still day; but David took an oath, saying, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(C) if I taste bread^(D) or anything else before the sun sets!”

³⁶ All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them. ³⁷ So on that day all the people there and all Israel knew that the king had no part^(E) in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

³⁸ Then the king said to his men, “Do you not realize that a commander and a great man has fallen^(F) in Israel this day?

²⁷ Now when Abner^(A) returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him^(B) in the stomach, and he died.^(C)

⁷ Now Saul had had a concubine^(A) named Rizpah^(B) daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

⁸ Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, “Am I a dog’s head^(C)—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman!

War Between the Houses of David and Saul^(A)

⁸ Meanwhile, Abner^(B) son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth^(C) son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.^{(D) 9} He made him king over Gilead,^(E) Ashuri^(F) and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.^(G)

¹⁰ Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David. ¹¹ The length of time David was king in Hebron over Judah was seven years and six months.^(H)

¹² Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon.^(I)