²⁶ Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well at Sirah, but David didn’t know anything of this. ²⁷ When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside next to^[a] the gate to speak with him in private. But instead Joab stabbed Abner in the stomach, and he died for shedding the blood of Asahel, Joab’s brother.

²⁸ When David heard about this later, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the shedding of the blood of Abner, Ner’s son. ²⁹ May it fall upon the head of Joab and his entire family tree! May Joab’s family never be without someone with a discharge or a skin disease,^[b] someone who uses a crutch,^[c] someone who dies by the sword, or someone who is hungry!”

³⁰ So that is how Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner, because he killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.