2 Samuel 2
1 And it cometh to pass afterwards, that David asketh at Jehovah, saying, 'Do I go up into one of the cities of Judah?' and Jehovah saith unto him, 'Go up.' And David saith, 'Whither do I go up?' and He saith, '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 And David goeth up thither, and also his two wives, 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 and his men who [are] with him hath David brought up — a man and his household — and they dwell 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 And the men of Judah come, and anoint there David for king over the house of Judah; and they declare to David, saying, 'The men of Jabesh-Gilead [are] 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 And David sendeth messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and saith unto them, 'Blessed [are] ye of Jehovah, in that ye have done this kindness with your lord, with Saul, that ye bury 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 'And, now, Jehovah doth with you kindness and truth, and also, I do with you this good because ye 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 and now, are your hands strong, and be ye for sons of valour, for your lord Saul. [is] dead, and also — me have the house of Judah anointed for 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 And Abner, son of Ner, head of the host which Saul hath, hath taken Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, and causeth him to pass 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 causeth him to reign over Gilead, and over the Ashurite, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over Israel — all of it.
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 A son of forty years, [is] Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, in his reigning over Israel, and two years he hath reigned, only the house of Judah have been after 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 number of the days that David hath been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is 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 goeth out, and servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, 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 servants of David, have gone out, and they meet by the pool of Gibeon together, and sit down, these by the pool on this [side], and these by the pool on that.
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 And Abner saith unto Joab, 'Let the youths rise, I pray thee, and they play before us;' and Joab saith, 'Let them rise.'
Abner said to Joab, “Let’s tell some of our young men to fight each other!” Joab replied, “Okay!”
15 And they rise and pass over, in number twelve of Benjamin, even of 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 lay hold, each on the head of his companion, and his sword [is] in the side of his companion, and they fall together, and [one] calleth that place Helkath-Hazzurim, 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 and the battle is very hard on that day, and Abner is smitten, and the men of Israel, 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 And there are there three sons of Zeruiah, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, and Asahel [is] light on his feet, as one of the roes which [are] in the field,
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 pursueth after Abner, and hath not turned aside to go to the right or to the left, from after Abner.
Asahel started to pursue Abner. He ran straight toward Abner, without stopping.
20 And Abner looketh behind him, and saith, 'Art thou he — Asahel?' and he saith, 'I [am].'
Abner looked behind him, and said “Is that you, Asahel?” Asahel replied, “Yes!”
21 And Abner saith to him, 'Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and seize for thee one of the youths, and take to thee his armour;' and Asahel hath not been willing to turn aside from after 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 addeth again, saying unto Asahel, 'Turn thee aside from after me, why do I smite thee to the earth? and how do 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 And he refuseth to turn aside, and Abner smiteth him with the hinder part of the spear unto the fifth [rib], and the spear cometh out from behind him, and he falleth there, and dieth under it; and it cometh to pass, every one who hath come unto the place where Asahel hath fallen and dieth — they stand 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 And Joab and Abishai pursue after Abner, and the sun hath gone in, and they have come in unto the height of Ammah, which [is] on the front of Giah, 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 And the sons of Benjamin gather themselves together after Abner, and become one troop, and stand on the top of a certain height,
The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner in one group, and stood at the top of a hill.
26 and Abner calleth unto Joab, and saith, 'For ever doth the sword consume? hast thou not known that it is bitterness in the latter end? and till when dost thou not say to the people to turn back from after their 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 And Joab saith, 'God liveth! for unless thou hadst spoken, surely then from the morning had the people gone up each from after 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 And Joab bloweth with a trumpet, and all the people stand still, and pursue no more after Israel, nor have they added any more to fight.
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 have gone through the plain all that night, and pass over the Jordan, and go on [through] all Bithron, and come in 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 And Joab hath turned back from after Abner, and gathereth all the people, and there are lacking 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 and the servants of David have smitten of Benjamin, even among the men of Abner, three hundred and sixty men — they died.
But David’s soldiers had killed 360 of Abner’s men, all from the tribe of Benjamin.
32 And they lift up Asahel, and bury him in the burying-place of his father, which [is] in Beth-Lehem, and they go all the night — Joab and his men — and it is light to them 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.
