⁶ David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite^(A) and Abishai^(B) son of Zeruiah,^(C) Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?”

“I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.

⁷ So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

⁸ Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”

⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed^(D) and be guiltless?^(E)

¹⁸ The three sons of Zeruiah^(A) were there: Joab,^(B) Abishai^(C) and Asahel.^(D) Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle.^(E)

²⁴ But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon.

³⁰ (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.)

¹⁰ He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai^(A) his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites.

¹⁴ When the Ammonites^(A) realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.