The Battle of Gibeon

¹² Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahana′im to Gibeon. ¹³ And Jo′ab the son of Zeru′iah, and the servants of David, went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴ And Abner said to Jo′ab, “Let the young men arise and play before us.” And Jo′ab said, “Let them arise.” ¹⁵ Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bo′sheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶ And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Hel′kath-hazzu′rim,^[a] which is at Gibeon. ¹⁷ And the battle was very fierce that day; and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.