¹⁸ Joab’s brothers, Abishai and Asahel, were also in the battle. Asahel could run like a deer, ¹⁹ and he began chasing Abner. He wouldn’t stop for anything, but kept on, single-minded, after Abner alone.

²⁰ When Abner looked behind and saw him coming, he called out to him, “Is that you, Asahel?”

“Yes,” he called back, “it is.”

²¹ “Go after someone else!” Abner warned. But Asahel refused and kept on coming.

²² Again Abner shouted to him, “Get away from here. I could never face your brother Joab if I have to kill you!”

²³ But he refused to turn away, so Abner pierced him through the belly with the butt end of his spear. It went right through his body and came out his back. He stumbled to the ground and died there, and everyone stopped when they came to the place where he lay.

²⁴ Now Joab and Abishai set out after Abner. The sun was just going down as they arrived at Ammah Hill near Giah, along the road into the Gibeon Desert. ²⁵ Abner’s troops from the tribe of Benjamin regrouped there at the top of the hill, ²⁶ and Abner shouted down to Joab, “Must our swords continue to kill each other forever? How long will it be before you call off your people from chasing their brothers?”

²⁷ Joab shouted back, “I swear by God that even if you hadn’t spoken, we would all have gone home tomorrow morning.” ²⁸ Then he blew his trumpet and his men stopped chasing the troops of Israel.

²⁹ That night Abner and his men retreated across the Jordan Valley, crossed the river, and traveled all the next morning until they arrived at Mahanaim. ³⁰ Joab and the men who were with him returned home, too, and when he counted his casualties, he learned that only nineteen men were missing, in addition to Asahel. ³¹ But three hundred and sixty of Abner’s men (all from the tribe of Benjamin) were dead. ³² Joab and his men took Asahel’s body to Bethlehem and buried him beside his father; then they traveled all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.

²⁷ When Abner arrived at Hebron, Joab took him aside at the city gate as if to speak with him privately; but then he pulled out a dagger and killed him in revenge for the death of his brother Asahel.

³⁰ So Joab and his brother, Abishai, killed Abner because of the death of their brother, Asahel, at the battle of Gibeon.

^24-39 Asahel, the brother of Joab, was also one of the Thirty. Others were:

¹⁶ He also had two girls (by the same wife) named Zeruiah and Abigail.

Zeruiah’s sons were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

^26-47 Other famous warriors among David’s men were:

⁷ The commander of the Fourth Division was Asahel (the brother of Joab), who was later replaced by his son Zebadiah. He had 24,000 men on duty the fourth month of each year.