2 Samuel 2:8-21

Contemporary English Version

Ishbosheth Becomes King of Israel

⁸Abner the son of Ner^[a] had been the general of Saul's army. He took Saul's son Ishbosheth^[b] across the Jordan River to Mahanaim ⁹and made him king of Israel,^[c] including the areas of Gilead, Asher,^[d] Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin. ¹⁰Ishbosheth was 40 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^[e] left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. ¹³Meanwhile, Joab the son of Zeruiah^[f] was leading David's soldiers, and the two groups met at the pool in Gibeon.^[g] 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 right there! That's why the place in Gibeon is called “Field of Daggers.”^[h] 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.

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Footnotes

2.8 son of Ner: Abner was Saul's cousin (see 1 Samuel 14.50).
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.
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.
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).
2.12 Ishbosheth: See the note at 2.8.
2.13 the son of Zeruiah: Zeruiah was David's older sister, so Joab was David's nephew (see 1 Chronicles 2.12-17 and the note at 2 Samuel 17.25).
2.13 pool in Gibeon: This pool was located just inside the city wall and was used for storing water. It was in the shape of a circle and was eleven meters wide and eleven meters deep.
2.16 Field of Daggers: Or “Field of Opponents” or “Battlefield.”