2 Samuel 2
1 And it came to pass, after this, that David enquired of Yahweh, saying—Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah? And Yahweh said unto him, Go up. And David said—Whither shall I go up? And he said—Unto 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 thither, and his two wives also, —Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, 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 His men also who were with him, did David bring up, every man with his household, —and they dwelt in the cities of 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 came the men of Judah, and anointed David there, to be king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, Men of Jabesh-gilead, were they who 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 So David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, —and said unto them—Blessed, be ye of Yahweh, that ye did this lovingkindness unto your lord, unto Saul, and 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, therefore, Yahweh requite you with lovingkindness and truth, —moreover also, I, will requite you, for this noble deed, in that ye did 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 made firm, and become ye sons of valour, for your lord Saul is dead, —and, me, moreover have the house of Judah anointed, to be 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 But, Abner son of Ner, prince of the host that pertained unto Saul, took Ish-bosheth, 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 made him king for Gilead, and for the Ashurites, and for 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 Forty years old, was Ish-bosheth son of Saul, when he began to reign over Israel, and, two years, reigned he, —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 it came to pass, that, the number of the days that David was king 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 And Abner son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, came out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
[One day] Abner and the officials of Isbosheth went from Mahanaim [across the Jordan River] to Gibeon [city].
13 And, Joab son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out from Hebron and met, by the pool of Gibeon, together, —and they sat down, these, by the pool, on the one side, and, those, by the pool, on the other side.
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 Then said Abner unto Joab, Let the young men arise, I pray thee, and make sport before us. And 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 there arose, and went over by number, —twelve of Benjamin, pertaining to Ish-bosheth, 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 And they caught every one his fellow by the head, with his sword in his fellow’s side, so they fell, together, —and that place was called Helkath-hazzadim ["Field of Plotters"], which is in Gideon.
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 So the battle became exceeding obstinate, on 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 Now there were there, three sons of Zeruiah, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, —and, Asahel, was light of foot 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 And Asahel pursued Abner, —and turned not, in going, to the right hand or to the left, from pursuing Abner.
Asahel started to pursue Abner. He ran straight toward Abner, without stopping.
20 Then Abner looked behind him, and said—Art thou Asahel? And he said—I am.
Abner looked behind him, and said “Is that you, Asahel?” Asahel replied, “Yes!”
21 Then Abner said to him—Turn thee aside, to thy right hand, or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn aside 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 And Abner said, yet again, unto Asahel, Turn thee aside from pursuing me, —wherefore should I smite thee to the earth? how then should I lift up my face unto Joab, thy 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 Howbeit he refused to turn aside, wherefore Abner smote him with the hinder end of the spear, in the belly, that the spear came out behind him, and he fell there, and died on the spot, —and so it was, that, as many as came up to the place where Asahel fell and died, stood still.
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 Then Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, —but, the sun, had gone in by the time, they, had come as far as the hill of Ammah, that overlooketh Giah, by 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 And, when the sons of Benjamin had gathered themselves together after Abner, and become one band, —and had taken their stand on the top of a certain 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 cried aloud unto Joab, and said—To the uttermost, must the sword devour? Dost thou not well know that, bitter, shall it be, in the latter end? How long, then, wilt thou not bid the people turn back from pursuing their own brethren?
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 Then said Joab—As God liveth, surely, if thou hadst not spoken, then in the morning, the people would of themselves have gone up, every man from pursuing his brother.
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 with the horn, and all the people stood still, and they neither pursued Israel further, —nor fought any more.
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 And, Abner and his men, journeyed through the waste plain all that night, —and crossed the Jordan, and went through all the Bithron, and entered 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 And, Joab, returned from pursuing Abner, and, when he had gathered together all the people, there were missing of the servants of David—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 smitten of Benjamin, of the men of Abner, —[so that] three hundred and sixty men, had died.
But David’s soldiers had killed 360 of Abner’s men, all from the tribe of Benjamin.
32 And they carried Asahel, and buried him in the grave of his father, which was in Bethlehem, —and Joab and his men journeyed all the night, and had daylight in 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.
