2 Samuel 3:31-39

Common English Bible

³¹Then David ordered Joab and all the troops who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on funeral clothes! Mourn for Abner!” King David himself walked behind the body. ³²They buried Abner in Hebron. The king wept loudly at Abner’s grave. All the troops cried too. ³³Then the king sang this funeral song^[a] for Abner:

“Should Abner have died like a fool dies?
³⁴Your hands weren’t bound,
    your feet weren’t chained,
    but you have fallen
    like someone falls before the wicked.”
Then the troops cried over Abner again.

³⁵Then all the soldiers came to urge David to eat something while it was still day, but David swore, “May God deal harshly with me and worse still if I eat bread or anything else before the sun goes down.” ³⁶All the troops took notice of this and were pleased by it. Indeed, everything that the king did pleased them. ³⁷So on that day all the troops and all Israel knew that it wasn’t the king’s idea to kill Abner, Ner’s son.

³⁸The king told his soldiers, “Don’t you know that a prince and a great man in Israel has fallen today? ³⁹And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak. These men, Zeruiah’s sons, are too strong for me.^[b] May the Lord repay the one who does evil according to the evil they did!”

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