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2 Samuel 2:24-32
Lexham English Bible

24 So Joab and Abishai pursued[a] Abner when[b] the sun went down. And they came to the hill country of Ammah, which is before Giah[c] on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The descendants[d] of Benjamin rallied after Abner, and they became as one fighting group and stood on the top of a certain hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Will the sword devour forever? Do you not know that there will be bitterness in the end? How long[e] will you not tell the people to turn away from pursuing[f] their brothers?” 27 Joab said, “As God lives,[g] for if you had not spoken, the people would surely have gone up in the morning, each one of them from following after[h] his brother.” 28 Then Joab blew on the trumpet and all the people stopped, and they no longer pursued after Israel, and they did not fight with them again.

29 Then Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night, and they crossed over the Jordan. They went all the forenoon and came to Mahanaim. 30 After Joab returned from pursuing[i] Abner, he gathered all the people; nineteen of the servants of David were missing along with Asahel. 31 The servants of David had killed some of the Benjaminites among the men of Abner; three hundred and sixty men had died. 32 Then they picked up Asahel and buried him in the grave of his father, which was at Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all that night arriving in Hebron at first light.[j]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 2:24 Hebrew “pursued after”
  2. 2 Samuel 2:24 Literally “and”
  3. 2 Samuel 2:24 Literally “lies on the face of Giah”
  4. 2 Samuel 2:25 Or “sons”
  5. 2 Samuel 2:26 Literally “And up to when”
  6. 2 Samuel 2:26 Literally “from after”
  7. 2 Samuel 2:27 Literally “The life of God”
  8. 2 Samuel 2:27 Literally “from after”
  9. 2 Samuel 2:30 Hebrew “after”
  10. 2 Samuel 2:32 Literally “it became light for them in Hebron”
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2 Samuel 2:24-32
New English Translation

24 So Joab and Abishai chased Abner. At sunset they came to the hill of Ammah near Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The Benjaminites formed their ranks[a] behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.

26 Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?” 27 Joab replied, “As surely as God lives, if you had not said this, it would have been morning before the people would have abandoned pursuit[b] of their brothers.” 28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn and all the people stopped in their tracks.[c] They stopped chasing Israel and ceased fighting.[d] 29 Abner and his men went through the rift valley[e] all that night. They crossed the Jordan River[f] and went through the whole region of Bitron[g] and came to Mahanaim.

30 Now Joab returned from chasing Abner and assembled all the people. Nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing, in addition to Asahel. 31 But David’s soldiers had slaughtered the Benjaminites and Abner’s men—in all, 360 men had died! 32 They took Asahel’s body and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Joab and his men then traveled all that night and reached Hebron by dawn.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 2:25 tn Heb “were gathered together.”
  2. 2 Samuel 2:27 tn The Hebrew verb נַעֲלָה (naʿalah) used here is the Niphal perfect third person masculine singular of עָלָה (ʿalah, “to go up”). In the Niphal this verb “is used idiomatically, of getting away from so as to abandon…especially of an army raising a siege…” (see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 244).
  3. 2 Samuel 2:28 tn Heb “stood.”
  4. 2 Samuel 2:28 tn Heb “they no longer chased after Israel and they no longer fought.”
  5. 2 Samuel 2:29 sn The rift valley is a large geographic feature extending from Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba. Here only a section of the Jordan Valley is in view.
  6. 2 Samuel 2:29 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  7. 2 Samuel 2:29 tn Heb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144 s.v. בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911-1912): 274-83 and HALOT 167 s.v. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”
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