2 Samuel 2
1 It happened after this, that David inquired of YHWH, saying, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?" YHWH said to him, "Go up." David said, "Where shall I go up?" He said, "To Hebron."
Some time after that, David asked Yahweh, “Should I go back to [live in] one of the towns in Judah?” Yahweh replied, “Yes, go up there.” Then David asked, “To which town should I go?” Yahweh replied, “To Hebron.”
2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite,
So David went up there, taking his two wives, Ahinoam who was from Jezreel [city], and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel [city].
3 and the men who were with him, everyone with his household. And they lived in Hebron.
He also took the men who had been with him, and their families. They all started to live in villages near Hebron.
4 Then the men of Judah came, and they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When David was told that the men of Jabesh Gilead buried Saul,
Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and [one of] them poured olive oil on David’s head [to show they were appointing him to be] [MTY] the king of the tribe [MTY] of Judah. When David found out that the people of Jabesh [town] in [the] Gilead [region] had buried Saul’s body,
5 then he sent messengers to the lords of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, "May you be blessed by YHWH, since you showed loyalty towards your lord, Saul, and have buried him.
he sent messengers to the men of Jabesh to tell them this: “I desire/hope that Yahweh will bless you for having shown, by burying the body of Saul your king, that you were loyal to him.
6 Now may YHWH show loving kindness and truth to you. I also will reward you for this kindness, because you have done this thing.
Now I also desire/hope that Yahweh will faithfully love you and be loyal to you. And I will do good things for you because of what you have done [for Saul].
7 Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
Now, although Saul your king is dead, be strong and courageous, like the people of Judah, who have appointed me to be their king.”
8 Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had taken Ishbaal the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;
[While this was happening], Ner’s son Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ishbosheth and went across [the Jordan River] to Mahanaim [town].
9 and he made him king over Gilead, and over the Geshurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel.
There Abner proclaimed that Ishbosheth was now the king of [the] Gilead [region] and of the tribe of Asher and the region of Jezreel and the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin. That meant that he was the king of all of the people of Israel.
10 Ishbaal, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
Ishbosheth was 40 years old when he started to rule over the people of Israel. He ruled them for two years. But the tribe of Judah (was loyal to David/wanted David to be their king),
11 And the time that David ruled in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
and he ruled them for seven and a half years while he was living in Hebron.
12 Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbaal the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
[One day] Abner and the officials of Isbosheth went from Mahanaim [across the Jordan River] to Gibeon [city].
13 Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met them by 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.
Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, and some of David’s officials [went from Hebron to Gibeon, and] met at the pool there. They all sat down, the one group on one side of the pool and the other group on the other side.
14 Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men now arise and compete before us." Joab said, "Let them arise."
Abner said to Joab, “Let’s tell some of our young men to fight each other!” Joab replied, “Okay!”
15 Then they arose and went over by number: twelve of the sons of Benjamin of Ishbaal the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David.
So twelve men from the tribe of Benjamin fought for Ishbosheth, against twelve of David’s soldiers.
16 They each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Field of Blades, which is in Gibeon.
Each of them grabbed the head of the man against whom he was fighting, and thrust his sword into that man’s side. The result was that all 24 of them fell down dead. So that area in Gibeon is now called ‘Field of Swords’.
17 The battle was very severe that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated before the servants of David.
Then [the others started to fight]. It was a very fierce battle. Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers.
18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel. And Asahel was as quick on his feet as a wild gazelle.
Zeruiah’s three sons were there [on that day]: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was able to run very fast; he could run as fast as a wild gazelle/antelope.
19 Asahel pursued after Abner, and as he went he did not turn to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.
Asahel started to pursue Abner. He ran straight toward Abner, without stopping.
20 Then Abner looked behind him, and said, "Is it you, Asahel?" He answered, "It is I."
Abner looked behind him, and said “Is that you, Asahel?” Asahel replied, “Yes!”
21 Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and grab one of the young men, and take his armor." But Asahel would not stop from pursuing him.
Abner yelled at him, “Turn to one side or the other, [and pursue someone else]!” But Asahel would not stop pursuing Abner.
22 Abner said again to Asahel, "Stop pursuing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab your brother?"
So Abner yelled at him again, “Stop (chasing after/pursuing) me! (Why should I kill you?/It would not be good for me to kill you!) [RHQ] If I did that, (how could I (face/be reconciled with) your brother Joab?/it would be very difficult for me to (face/be reconciled with) your brother Joab.) [RHQ]”
23 But he refused to stop. Therefore Abner with the back end of the spear struck him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place. And it came about that all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stopped there.
But Asahel refused to stop pursuing Abner. So Abner [suddenly turned and] thrust the butt end of his spear into Asahel’s stomach. Because he thrust it very strongly, that end of the spear [went though Asahel’s body and] came out at his back, and he fell to the ground, dead. All the other soldiers who came to the place where his body was lying stopped and stood there, [stunned].
24 But Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they had come to the hill of Ammah, that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon.
But Joab and Abishai continued to pursue Abner. At sunset they came to Ammah Hill, which is east of Giah, along the road to the desert near Gibeon.
25 The sons of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and formed a single group, and stood on the top of a hill.
The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner in one group, and stood at the top of a hill.
26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said, "Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long shall it be then, before you ask the people to stop pursuing their brothers?"
Then Abner called out to Joab, saying “Are we going to continue to fight forever [RHQ]? Do you not realize that [if we continue fighting], the result will be very bad [RHQ]? We are all descendants of Jacob. [So we should stop fighting each other] (How long will it be until you tell your soldiers to stop pursuing us?/Tell your soldiers to stop pursuing us.)” [RHQ]
27 Joab said, "As YHWH lives, if you had not spoken, surely the people would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning."
Joab replied, “Just as surely as God lives, if you had not said that, my soldiers would have continued pursuing your men until tomorrow morning!”
28 So Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people stopped, and no longer chased after Israel, and they no longer fought.
So Joab blew a trumpet [to signal that they should stop fighting]. So all his men did that. They did not pursue the soldiers of Israel any more, and they stopped fighting.
29 Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah; and they passed over the Jordan, and marched the whole morning, and came to Mahanaim.
That night Abner and his soldiers went through the Jordan [River] Valley. They crossed the Jordan [River] and marched all the next morning, and they finally arrived at Mahanaim.
30 Joab returned from pursuing Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men and Asahel.
Joab [and his soldiers] stopped pursuing Abner. And when he gathered all his soldiers together, he found out that in addition to Asahel, only 19 of them had been killed in the battle.
31 But the servants of David had struck of the people of Benjamin, from the men of Abner, three hundred and sixty men who died.
But David’s soldiers had killed 360 of Abner’s men, all from the tribe of Benjamin.
32 They took up Asahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Bethlehem. Joab and his men went all night, and the day broke on them at Hebron.
[Some of Joab’s soldiers] took Asahel’s body and buried it in the tomb where his father had been buried, in Bethlehem. Then they marched all during the night, and at dawn they arrived [back home] at Hebron.
