2 Samuel 2
1 After this David asked Yahweh and said, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” Yahweh replied to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which city should I go?” Yahweh replied, “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 with his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Abigail from Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
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 David brought the men who were with him, who each brought his family, to the cities of Hebron, where they began to live.
He also took the men who had been with him, and their families. They all started to live in villages near Hebron.
4 Then men from Judah came and anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, “The men of Jabesh Gilead have 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 to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said to them, “You are blessed by Yahweh, since you have showed this loyalty to your master 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 Yahweh show you covenantal loyalty and faithfulness. I also will show you this goodness 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 then, let your hands be strong; be courageous for Saul your master is dead, and 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 But Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ishbosheth son of Saul and brought him 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 He made Ishbosheth king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, 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 Ishbosheth son of Saul, 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 The time 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 Abner son of Ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth 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 son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. There they sat down, one group on one side of the pool and the other 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 Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” Then 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 the young men got up and gathered together, twelve for Benjamin and Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve from servants of David.
So twelve men from the tribe of Benjamin fought for Ishbosheth, against twelve of David’s soldiers.
16 Each man seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into the side of his opponent, and they fell down together. Therefore that place was called “Helkath Hazzurim,” or “Field of Swords,” 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. Asahel was swift in his feet like 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 closely pursued Abner and followed him without turning away in any direction.
Asahel started to pursue Abner. He ran straight toward Abner, without stopping.
20 Abner looked behind him and said, “Is that 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 or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his armor.” But Asahel would not turn aside.
Abner yelled at him, “Turn to one side or the other, [and pursue someone else]!” But Asahel would not stop pursuing Abner.
22 So Abner said again to Asahel, “Stop pursuing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could 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 Asahel refused to turn aside, and so Abner stabbed him in the body with the blunt end of his spear, so that the spear came out the other side. Asahel fell down and died there. So it came about that anyone who arrived at the place where Asahel fell down and died, he stopped and 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 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. When the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which is near Giah by the road to 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 men of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and stood on the top of the 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, “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not know it will be bitter in the end? How long will it be before you tell your men 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 replied, “Just as God lives, if you had not said that, my soldiers would have pursued 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 his men stopped and did not pursue Israel anymore, nor did they fight anymore.
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 traveled all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, marched all the next morning, and then reached 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. He assembled all his men, from whom were missing Asahel and nineteen of David's soldiers.
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 men of David had killed 360 men of Benjamin with Abner.
But David’s soldiers had killed 360 of Abner’s men, all from the tribe of Benjamin.
32 Then they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was in Bethlehem. Joab and his men traveled all night, and the day dawned 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.
