2 Samuel 2
Good News Translation
David Is Made King of Judah
2 After this, David asked the Lord, “Shall I go and take control of one of the towns of Judah?”
“Yes,” the Lord answered.
“Which one?” David asked.
“Hebron,” the Lord said. 2 (A)So David went to Hebron, taking with him his two wives: Ahinoam, who was from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal's widow, who was from Carmel. 3 He also took his men and their families, and they settled in the towns around Hebron. 4 (B)Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and anointed David as king of Judah.
When David heard that the people of Jabesh in Gilead had buried Saul, 5 he sent some men there with the message: “May the Lord bless you for showing your loyalty to your king by burying him. 6 And now may the Lord be kind and faithful to you. I too will treat you well because of what you have done. 7 Be strong and brave! Saul your king is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me as their king.”
Ishbosheth Is Made King of Israel
8 The commander of Saul's army, Abner son of Ner, had fled with Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim. 9 There Abner made Ishbosheth king of the territories of Gilead, Asher,[a] Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin, and indeed over all Israel. 10 He was forty years old when he was made king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.
But the tribe of Judah was loyal to David, 11 and he ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years.
War between Israel and Judah
12 Abner and the officials of Ishbosheth went from Mahanaim to the city of Gibeon. 13 Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, and David's other officials met them at the pool, where they all sat down, one group on one side of the pool and the other group on the opposite side. 14 Abner said to Joab, “Let's have some of the young men from each side fight an armed contest.”
“All right,” Joab answered.
15 So twelve men, representing Ishbosheth and the tribe of Benjamin, fought twelve of David's men. 16 Each man caught his opponent by the head and plunged his sword into his opponent's side, so that all twenty-four of them fell down dead together. And so that place in Gibeon is called “Field of Swords.”
17 Then a furious battle broke out, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David's men. 18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel, who could run as fast as a wild deer, 19 started chasing Abner, running straight for him. 20 Abner looked back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?”
“Yes,” he answered.
21 “Stop chasing me!” Abner said. “Run after one of the soldiers and take what he has.” But Asahel kept on chasing him. 22 Once more Abner said to him, “Stop chasing me! Why force me to kill you? How could I face your brother Joab?” 23 But Asahel would not quit; so Abner, with a backward thrust[b] of his spear, struck him through the stomach so that the spear came out at his back. Asahel dropped to the ground dead, and everyone who came to the place where he was lying stopped and stood there.
24 But Joab and Abishai started out after Abner, and at sunset they came to the hill of Ammah, which is to the east of Giah on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner again and took their stand on the top of a hill. 26 Abner called out to Joab, “Do we have to go on fighting forever? Can't you see that in the end there will be nothing but bitterness? We are your relatives. How long will it be before you order your men to stop chasing us?”
27 “I swear by the living God,” Joab answered, “that if you had not spoken, my men would have kept on chasing you until tomorrow morning.” 28 Then Joab blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to stop pursuing the Israelites; and so the fighting stopped.
29 Abner and his men marched through the Jordan Valley all that night; they crossed the Jordan River, and after marching all the next morning, they arrived back at Mahanaim.
30 When Joab gave up the chase, he gathered all his men and found that nineteen of them were missing, in addition to Asahel. 31 David's men had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin. 32 Joab and his men took Asahel's body and buried it in the family tomb at Bethlehem. Then they marched all night and at dawn arrived back at Hebron.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 2:9 One ancient translation Asher; Hebrew Assyria.
- 2 Samuel 2:23 Probable text with a backward thrust; Hebrew unclear.
2 Samuel 2
New King James Version
David Anointed King of Judah
2 It happened after this that David (A)inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?”
And the Lord said to him, “Go up.”
David said, “Where shall I go up?”
And He said, “To (B)Hebron.”
2 So David went up there, and his (C)two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 3 And David brought up (D)the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
4 (E)Then the men of Judah came, and there they (F)anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, (G)“The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.” 5 So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, (H)“You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. 6 And now may (I)the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing. 7 Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
Ishbosheth Made King of Israel
8 But (J)Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took [a]Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to (K)Mahanaim; 9 and he made him king over (L)Gilead, over the (M)Ashurites, over (N)Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10 Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. Only the house of Judah followed David. 11 And (O)the [b]time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
Israel and Judah at War
12 Now Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to (P)Gibeon. 13 And (Q)Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out and met them by (R)the pool of Gibeon. So they sat down, one on one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. 14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men now arise and compete before us.”
And Joab said, “Let them arise.”
15 So they arose and went over by number, twelve from Benjamin, followers of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David. 16 And each one grasped his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called [c]the Field of Sharp Swords, which is in Gibeon. 17 So there was a very fierce battle that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
18 Now the (S)three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab and Abishai and Asahel. And Asahel was (T)as fleet of foot (U)as a wild gazelle. 19 So Asahel pursued Abner, and in going he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner.
20 Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Are you Asahel?”
He answered, “I am.”
21 And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay hold on one of the young men and take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. 22 So Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I face your brother Joab?” 23 However, he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him (V)in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood (W)still.
24 Joab and Abishai also pursued Abner. And the sun was going down when they came to the hill of Ammah, which is before Giah by the road to the Wilderness of Gibeon. 25 Now the children of Benjamin gathered together behind Abner and became [d]a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the latter end? How long will it be then until you tell the people to return from pursuing their brethren?”
27 And Joab said, “As God lives, [e]unless (X)you had spoken, surely then by morning all the people would have given up pursuing their brethren.” 28 So Joab blew a trumpet; and all the people stood still and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore. 29 Then Abner and his men went on all that night through the plain, crossed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron; and they came to Mahanaim.
30 So Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had struck down, of Benjamin and Abner’s men, three hundred and sixty men who died. 32 Then they took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb, which was in (Y)Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at daybreak.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 2:8 Esh-Baal, 1 Chr. 8:33; 9:39
- 2 Samuel 2:11 Lit. number of days
- 2 Samuel 2:16 Heb. Helkath Hazzurim
- 2 Samuel 2:25 one band
- 2 Samuel 2:27 if you had not spoken
撒母耳记下 2
Revised Chinese Union Version (Simplified Script) Shen Edition
大卫受膏为犹大王
2 此后，大卫求问耶和华说：“我可以上犹大的一个城去吗？”耶和华对他说：“可以上去。”大卫说：“我上哪一个城去呢？”耶和华说：“希伯仑。” 2 于是大卫和他的两个妻子，一个是耶斯列人亚希暖，一个是作过迦密人拿八妻子的亚比该，都上那里去了。 3 大卫也把跟随他的人和他们各人的眷属一同带上去，住在希伯仑的城镇中。 4 犹大人来，在那里膏大卫作犹大家的王。
有人告诉大卫说：“埋葬扫罗的是基列的雅比人。” 5 大卫就派使者到基列的雅比人那里，对他们说：“愿耶和华赐福给你们！因为你们忠心对待你们的主扫罗，埋葬了他。 6 你们既做了这事，愿耶和华以慈爱和信实待你们，我也要为此厚待你们。 7 现在，你们的主扫罗死了，犹大家也已经膏我作他们的王，你们的手要坚强，要作英勇的人。”
伊施‧波设作以色列王
8 扫罗军队的元帅，尼珥的儿子押尼珥，曾将扫罗的儿子伊施‧波设[a]带过河，到玛哈念， 9 立他作王，治理基列、亚书利、耶斯列、以法莲、便雅悯和以色列众人。 10 扫罗的儿子伊施‧波设登基的时候年四十岁，作以色列王二年，但是犹大家却随从大卫。 11 大卫在希伯仑作犹大家的王，共七年六个月。
扫罗家和大卫家争战
12 尼珥的儿子押尼珥和扫罗的儿子伊施‧波设的仆人从玛哈念出来，往基遍去。 13 洗鲁雅的儿子约押和大卫的仆人也出来，在基遍池旁与他们相遇；一队坐在池的这边，一队坐在池的那边。 14 押尼珥对约押说：“让年轻人起来，在我们面前较量一下吧！”约押说：“让他们起来吧。” 15 他们就起来，点了人数过来：属扫罗儿子伊施‧波设的有便雅悯人十二名，大卫的仆人也有十二名。 16 每人抓住对方的头，用刀刺对方的肋旁，一同仆倒。所以，那地叫做希利甲‧哈素林，就在基遍。 17 那日战况激烈，押尼珥和以色列人败在大卫的仆人面前。 18 在那里有洗鲁雅的三个儿子：约押、亚比筛、亚撒黑。亚撒黑的脚快如野地里的羚羊； 19 亚撒黑追赶押尼珥，直追赶他不偏左右。 20 押尼珥回头说：“亚撒黑，是你吗？”他说：“是我。” 21 押尼珥对他说：“你转左或转右，去抓一个年轻人，剥去他的战衣吧。”亚撒黑却不肯转开而不追赶他。 22 押尼珥又对亚撒黑说：“转开，不要再追我了！我何必把你击杀在地上呢？我若杀了你，怎么有脸见你哥哥约押呢？” 23 亚撒黑仍不肯转开，押尼珥就用回马枪[b]刺入他的肚腹，甚至枪从背后穿出，亚撒黑就仆倒在那里，当场死了。众人赶到亚撒黑仆倒而死的地方，就都站住。
24 约押和亚比筛追赶押尼珥。日落的时候，他们到了通往基遍旷野的路旁，基亚对面的亚玛山。 25 便雅悯人聚集在押尼珥后面，成为一队，站在一座山顶上。 26 押尼珥呼叫约押说：“刀剑岂可永远吞噬呢？你岂不知，结局必是痛苦的吗？你要等到何时才叫百姓回去，不追赶他们的弟兄呢？” 27 约押说：“我指着永生的 神起誓：你若没有这么说，百姓就必继续追赶弟兄，直到早晨[c]。” 28 于是约押吹角，众百姓就站住，不再追赶以色列人，也不再打仗了。
29 押尼珥和他的人整夜行过亚拉巴。他们过了约旦河，走过毕伦[d]，到了玛哈念。 30 约押追赶押尼珥回来，聚集众百姓，大卫的仆人中缺少了十九个人和亚撒黑。 31 但大卫的仆人杀了押尼珥的人，便雅悯人三百六十名。 32 他们把亚撒黑送到伯利恒，葬在他父亲的坟墓里。约押和他的人走了一整夜，天亮的时候他们才到希伯仑。
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
和合本修訂版經文 © 2006, 2010, 2017 香港聖經公會。蒙允許使用。 Scripture Text of Revised Chinese Union Version © 2006, 2010, 2017 Hong Kong Bible Society. www.hkbs.org.hk/en/ Used by permission.