David Mourns Abner

³¹ Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “^(A)Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David walked behind the bier. ³² And they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king raised his voice and wept at ^(B)the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. ³³ And ^(C)the king sang a song of mourning for Abner and said,

And all the people wept over him again. ³⁵ Then all the people came ^(D)to provide ^[b]food for David in his distress while it was still day; but David vowed, saying, “^(E)May God do so to me, and more so, if I taste bread or anything else ^(F)before the sun goes down.” ³⁶ Now all the people took note of David’s vow, and it ^[c]pleased them, just as everything that the king did ^[d]pleased all the people. ³⁷ So all the people and all Israel understood on that day that it had not been the desire of the king to put Abner the son of Ner to death. ³⁸ Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a leader and a great man has fallen in Israel this day? ³⁹ And I am ^(G)weak today, though anointed king; and these men, ^(H)the sons of Zeruiah, are too difficult for me. ^(I)May the Lord repay the evildoer in proportion to his evil.”