Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NET

2 Samuel 2
New English Translation

David is Anointed King

2 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied,[a] “To Hebron.” 2 So David went up, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, formerly the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 3 David also brought along the men who were with him, each with his family. They settled in the cities[b] of Hebron. 4 The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people[c] of Judah.

David was told,[d] “The people[e] of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.” 5 So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness[f] to your lord Saul by burying him. 6 Now may the Lord show you true kindness![g] I also will reward you,[h] because you have done this deed. 7 Now be courageous[i] and prove to be valiant warriors, for your lord Saul is dead. The people of Judah have anointed me as king over them.”

David’s Army Clashes with the Army of Saul

8 Now Abner son of Ner, the general in command of Saul’s army, had taken Saul’s son Ish Bosheth[j] and had brought him to Mahanaim. 9 He appointed him king over Gilead, the Geshurites,[k] Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel. 10 Ish Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he began to rule over Israel. He ruled two years. However, the people[l] of Judah followed David. 11 David was king in Hebron over the people of Judah for seven-and-a-half years.[m]

12 Then Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish Bosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and the servants of David also went out and confronted them at the pool of Gibeon. One group stationed themselves on one side of the pool, and the other group on the other side of the pool. 14 Abner said to Joab, “Let the soldiers get up and fight[n] before us.” Joab said, “So be it!”[o]

15 So they got up and crossed over by number: twelve belonging to Benjamin and to Ish Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. 16 As they grappled with one another, each one stabbed his opponent with his sword and they fell dead together.[p] So that place is called the Field of Flints;[q] it is in Gibeon.

17 Now the battle was very severe that day; Abner and the men of Israel were overcome by David’s soldiers.[r] 18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there—Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. (Now Asahel was as quick on his feet as one of the gazelles in the field.) 19 Asahel chased Abner, without turning to the right or to the left as he followed Abner.

20 Then Abner turned and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?” He replied, “Yes it is!” 21 Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers[s] and take his equipment for yourself!” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him. 22 So Abner spoke again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me! I do not want to strike you to the ground.[t] How then could I show[u] my face in the presence of Joab your brother?” 23 But Asahel[v] refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his[w] spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel[x] collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner.[y] Everyone who came to the place where Asahel fell dead paused in respect.[z]

24 So Joab and Abishai chased Abner. At sunset they came to the hill of Ammah near Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The Benjaminites formed their ranks[aa] behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.

26 Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?” 27 Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit[ab] of their brothers.” 28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn and all the people stopped in their tracks.[ac] They stopped chasing Israel and ceased fighting.[ad] 29 Abner and his men went through the rift valley[ae] all that night. They crossed the Jordan River[af] and went through the whole region of Bitron[ag] and came to Mahanaim.

30 Now Joab returned from chasing Abner and assembled all the people. Nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing, in addition to Asahel. 31 But David’s soldiers had slaughtered the Benjaminites and Abner’s men—in all, 360 men had died! 32 They took Asahel’s body and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Joab and his men then traveled all that night and reached Hebron by dawn.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 2:1 tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
  2. 2 Samuel 2:3 tc The expression “the cities of Hebron” is odd; we would expect the noun to be in the singular, if used at all. Although the Syriac Peshitta has the expected reading “in Hebron,” the MT is clearly the more difficult reading and should probably be retained here.
  3. 2 Samuel 2:4 tn Heb “house.”
  4. 2 Samuel 2:4 tn Heb “and they told David.” The subject appears to be indefinite, allowing one to translate the verb as passive with David as subject.
  5. 2 Samuel 2:4 tn Heb “men.”
  6. 2 Samuel 2:5 tn Or “loyalty.”
  7. 2 Samuel 2:6 tn Or “loyalty and devotion.”
  8. 2 Samuel 2:6 tn Heb “will do with you this good.”
  9. 2 Samuel 2:7 tn Heb “let your hands be strong.”
  10. 2 Samuel 2:8 sn The name Ish Bosheth means in Hebrew “man of shame.” It presupposes an earlier form such as Ish Baal (“man of the Lord”), with the word “baal” being used of Israel’s God. But because the Canaanite storm god was named “Baal,” that part of the name was later replaced with the word “shame.”
  11. 2 Samuel 2:9 tc The MT here reads “the Ashurite,” but this is problematic if it is taken to mean “the Assyrian.” Ish Bosheth’s kingdom obviously was not of such proportions as to extend to Assyria. The Syriac Peshitta and the Vulgate render the word as “the Geshurite,” while the Targum has “of the house of Ashur.” We should probably emend the Hebrew text to read “the Geshurite.” The Geshurites lived in the northeastern part of the land of Palestine.
  12. 2 Samuel 2:10 tn Heb “house.”
  13. 2 Samuel 2:11 tn Heb “And the number of the days in which David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.”
  14. 2 Samuel 2:14 tn Heb “play.” What is in view here is a gladiatorial contest in which representative groups of soldiers engage in mortal combat before the watching armies. Cf. NAB “perform for us”; NASB “hold (have NRSV) a contest before us”; NLT “put on an exhibition of hand-to-hand combat.”
  15. 2 Samuel 2:14 tn Heb “let them arise.”
  16. 2 Samuel 2:16 tn Heb “and they grabbed each one the head of his neighbor with his sword in the side of his neighbor and they fell together.”
  17. 2 Samuel 2:16 tn The meaning of the name “Helkath Hazzurim” (so NIV; KJV, NASB, NRSV similar) is not clear. BHK relates the name to the Hebrew term for “side,” and this is reflected in NAB “the Field of the Sides”; the Greek OT revocalizes the Hebrew to mean something like “Field of Adversaries.” Cf. also TEV, NLT “Field of Swords”; CEV “Field of Daggers.”
  18. 2 Samuel 2:17 tn Heb “servants.” So also elsewhere.
  19. 2 Samuel 2:21 tn Heb “young men.” So also elsewhere.
  20. 2 Samuel 2:22 tn Heb “Why should I strike you to the ground?”
  21. 2 Samuel 2:22 tn Heb “lift.”
  22. 2 Samuel 2:23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  23. 2 Samuel 2:23 tn Heb “the.” The article functions here as a possessive pronoun.
  24. 2 Samuel 2:23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  25. 2 Samuel 2:23 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  26. 2 Samuel 2:23 tn Heb “and they stand.”
  27. 2 Samuel 2:25 tn Heb “were gathered together.”
  28. 2 Samuel 2:27 tn The Hebrew verb נַעֲלָה (naʿalah) used here is the Niphal perfect third person masculine singular of עָלָה (ʿalah, “to go up”). In the Niphal this verb “is used idiomatically, of getting away from so as to abandon…especially of an army raising a siege…” (see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 244).
  29. 2 Samuel 2:28 tn Heb “stood.”
  30. 2 Samuel 2:28 tn Heb “they no longer chased after Israel and they no longer fought.”
  31. 2 Samuel 2:29 sn The rift valley is a large geographic feature extending from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba. Here only a section of the Jordan Valley is in view.
  32. 2 Samuel 2:29 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  33. 2 Samuel 2:29 tn Heb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144 s.v. בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911-1912): 274-83 and HALOT 167 s.v. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”
Close CEB

2 Samuel 2
Common English Bible

David made king in Hebron

2 Some time later, David questioned the Lord, “Should I go to one of the towns in Judah?”

“Yes, go,” the Lord told him.

“Which one should I go to?” David asked.

“To Hebron,” the Lord replied.

2 So David went there, along with his two wives: Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, Nabal’s widow, from Carmel. 3 David also took the soldiers who were with him, each with his family, and they lived in the towns around Hebron. 4 Then the people of Judah came to Hebron and anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When David was informed that it was the people of Jabesh-gilead who had buried Saul, 5 he sent messengers to the people of Jabesh-gilead. “The Lord bless you,” he said to them, “for doing this loyal deed for your master Saul by burying him. 6 May the Lord now show you loyal love and faithfulness. I myself will also reward you because you did this. 7 So now take courage and be brave—yes, your master Saul is dead, but the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

Israel’s King Ishbosheth

8 Meanwhile, Abner, Ner’s son, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ishbosheth,[a] Saul’s son, and brought him over to Mahanaim. 9 There he made him king over Gilead, the Geshurites,[b] Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel. 10 Saul’s son Ishbosheth was 40 years old when he became king over Israel, and he ruled for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. 11 The amount of time David ruled in Hebron over the house of Judah totaled seven and a half years.

Conflict between Judah and Israel

12 Abner, Ner’s son, along with the soldiers of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, left Mahanaim to go to Gibeon. 13 Joab, Zeruiah’s son, and David’s soldiers also came out and confronted them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat on one side of the pool; the other sat on the opposite side of the pool. 14 Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have the young men fight in a contest[c] before us.”

“All right,” Joab said, “let’s do it.” 15 So the men came forward and were counted as they passed by: twelve for Benjamin and Ishbosheth, Saul’s son; and twelve of David’s soldiers. 16 Each man grabbed his opponent by the head and stuck[d] his sword into his opponent’s side so that they both fell dead together. That’s why that place is called The Field of Daggers,[e] which is located in Gibeon. 17 A fierce battle took place that day, and Abner and the Israelite troops were defeated by David’s soldiers.

18 Now Zeruiah’s three sons were present at the battle: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was as fast as a gazelle in an open field. 19 Asahel went after Abner, staying completely focused in his pursuit of Abner.

20 Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that you, Asahel?”

“Yes, it’s me,” Asahel answered.

21 “Break off your pursuit!” Abner told him. “Fight one of the young warriors and take his gear for yourself!” But Asahel wouldn’t stop chasing him.

22 So Abner repeated himself to Asahel: “Stop chasing me. Why should I kill you? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?” 23 But Asahel wouldn’t turn back, so Abner hit him in the stomach with the back end of his spear. But the spear went through Asahel’s back. He fell down and died right there.

Everyone who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died just stood there, 24 but Joab and Abishai went after Abner. The sun was setting when they came to the hill of Ammah, which faces Giah on the road to the Gibeon wilderness. 25 The Benjaminites rallied behind Abner, forming a single unit. Then they took their positions on the top of a hill. 26 Abner yelled down to Joab, “Must the sword keep killing forever? Don’t you realize that this will end bitterly? How long before you order the troops to stop chasing their brothers?”

27 “As surely as God lives,” Joab replied, “if you hadn’t just said that, the soldiers would have continued after their brothers until morning.” 28 Joab blew the trumpet,[f] and all the soldiers stopped. They didn’t pursue Israel anymore, nor did they continue to fight.

29 Abner and his men then marched all night through the wilderness, crossing the Jordan River and marching all morning[g] until they got to Mahanaim. 30 Joab, meanwhile, returned from pursuing Abner and assembled the troops. Nineteen of David’s soldiers were counted missing in addition to Asahel. 31 But David’s soldiers had defeated the Benjaminites, killing three hundred sixty of Abner’s soldiers. 32 They took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night. When daylight came, they were in Hebron.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 2:8 Ishbosheth means man of shame; shame (Heb bosheth) may be a deliberate alteration from Baal (cf Esh-baal, man of Baal in 1 Chron 8:33; 9:39; see also 2 Sam 4:4); one manuscript of LXXL reads Ishbaal.
  2. 2 Samuel 2:9 Syr, Vulg; MT Ashurites or Assyrians; cf Tg, LXXL, Judg 1:32 Asherites
  3. 2 Samuel 2:14 Or come forward and play or compete
  4. 2 Samuel 2:16 Heb lacks stuck.
  5. 2 Samuel 2:16 Heb Helkath-hazzurim
  6. 2 Samuel 2:28 Heb shofar
  7. 2 Samuel 2:29 Heb uncertain
Next
2 Samuel 1
2 Samuel 3
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Common English Bible (CEB)

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible