⁸ Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army,^(A) took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth^[a][b] and moved him to Mahanaim. ⁹ He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin—over all Israel. ¹⁰ Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel; he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. ¹¹ The length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.^(B)

¹² Abner son of Ner and soldiers of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³ So Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon.^(C) The two groups took up positions on opposite sides of the pool.

¹⁴ Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have the young men get up and compete in front of us.”

“Let them get up,” Joab replied.

¹⁵ So they got up and were counted off—twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s soldiers. ¹⁶ Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side so that they all died together. So this place, which is in Gibeon, is named Field of Blades.^[c]

¹⁷ The battle that day was extremely fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers. ¹⁸ The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel.^(D) Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles.^{(E) 19} He chased Abner and did not turn to the right or the left in his pursuit of him. ²⁰ Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?”

“Yes it is,” Asahel replied.

²¹ Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or left, seize one of the young soldiers, and take whatever you can get from him.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him. ²² Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I ever look your brother Joab in the face?” ^(F)

²³ But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner hit him in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there. As they all came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, they stopped,^{(G) 24} but Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

²⁵ The Benjaminites rallied to Abner; they formed a unit and took their stand on top of a hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

²⁷ “As God lives,” Joab replied, “if you had not spoken up, the troops wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their brothers until morning.”^{(H) 28} Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight. ²⁹ So Abner and his men marched through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning,^[d] and arrived at Mahanaim.^(I)

³⁰ When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing, ³¹ but they had killed 360 of the Benjaminites and Abner’s men. ³² Afterward, they carried Asahel to his father’s tomb in Bethlehem and buried him. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at dawn.

Civil War

3 During the long war between the house of Saul and the house of David,^(A) David was growing stronger^(B) and the house of Saul was becoming weaker.

² Sons were born to David in Hebron:

These were born to David in Hebron.^(I)

⁶ During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner kept acquiring more power in the house of Saul.^{(J) 7} Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah^(K) daughter of Aiah, and Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

⁸ Abner was very angry about Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I a dog’s head^[a](L) who belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I’ve been loyal to the family of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends and haven’t betrayed you to David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman! ⁹ May God punish Abner and do so severely if I don’t do for David what the Lord swore to him: ¹⁰ to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah^(M) from Dan to Beer-sheba.” ¹¹ Ish-bosheth did not dare respond to Abner because he was afraid of him.

¹² Abner sent messengers as his representatives to say to David, “Whose land is it? Make your covenant with me, and you can be certain I am on your side to turn all Israel over to you.”

¹³ David replied, “Good, I will make a covenant with you. However, there’s one thing I require of you: You will not see my face unless you first bring Saul’s daughter Michal^(N) when you come to see me.”

¹⁴ Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, “Give me back my wife Michal. I was engaged to her for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.”^(O)

¹⁵ So Ish-bosheth sent someone to take her away from her husband, Paltiel son of Laish.^{(P) 16} Her husband followed her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Abner said to him, “Go back.” So he went back.

The Assassination of Abner

¹⁷ Abner conferred with the elders of Israel: “In the past you wanted David to be king over you. ¹⁸ Now take action, because the Lord has spoken concerning David: ‘Through my servant David I will save my people Israel from the power of the Philistines and the power of all Israel’s enemies.’”

¹⁹ Abner also informed the Benjaminites and went to Hebron to inform David about all that was agreed on by Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.^{(Q) 20} When Abner and twenty men came to David at Hebron, David held a banquet for him and his men.

²¹ Abner said to David, “Let me now go and I will gather all Israel to my lord the king. They will make a covenant with you,^(R) and you will reign over all you desire.” So David dismissed Abner, and he went in peace.