¹Then it came to pass after that, that David inquired of the Lord and asked, “Should I go up into one of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” Then David said, “Where should I go up to?” And he said, “To Hebron.” ²So David went up there, as did his two wives Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail who had been the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ³And David brought up his men who were with him, each one and his household, and they lived in the cities of Hebron. ⁴And the men of Judah came, and they anointed David as king over the house of Judah. And they gave a report to David, and they said, “It is the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul.” ⁵Then David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead, and he said to them, “Blessed are you to the Lord, because you did this kind act with your lord, with Saul, when you buried him. ⁶So now, may the Lord act kindly and in truth with you, and I too will recompense you this good deed, because you did this thing. ⁷And now, may your hands be strengthened, and may you become valiant men, for your lord, Saul, is dead, and moreover the house of Judah has anointed me as king over them.” ⁸But Abner the son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, took Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, and he brought him across to Mahanaim. ⁹And they made him king of Gilead, and of the Ashurites and of Jezreel, and of Ephraim and of Benjamin and of all of Israel. ¹⁰Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he reigned over Israel, and he reigned for two years, but the house of Judah was behind David. ¹¹And the number of days that David was king over the house of Judah in Hebron was seven years and six months. ¹²And Abner the son of Ner went out, as did the servants of Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³And Joab the son of Zeruiah and David's servants went out, and they met them at the pool of Gibeon so that they were all together, and they sat with one group on one side of the pool and one group on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴And Abner said to Joab, “Let the lads get up and make sport for us.” And Joab said, “Let them get up.” ¹⁵So the twelve in number of Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son, arose and crossed over, as did twelve of David's servants. ¹⁶And each took hold of his neighbour's head and thrust his sword into his neighbour's side, and they fell down together, and that place is called Helkath-Hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷And the war was very severe on that day, and Abner was defeated, as were the men of Israel, by David's servants. ¹⁸And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was swift-footed like one of the gazelles in the field. ¹⁹And Asahel pursued Abner, and he did not turn aside to go to the right or to the left in going after Abner. ²⁰Then Abner turned round, and he said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he said, “I am.” ²¹And Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the lads and take his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to deviate from going after him. ²²And Abner went on to say to Asahel, “Give up coming after me. Why should I strike you to the ground, and how would I face Joab your brother?” ²³But he refused to give up, and Abner struck him with a backward-pointing spear in the abdomen, and the spear came out behind him, and he fell there and died on the spot. And it came to pass that everyone who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still. ²⁴And Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and the sun was setting when they came to the hill of Ammah which faces Giah on the way to the Desert of Gibeon. ²⁵And the Benjaminites assembled themselves behind Abner and became one battalion, and they stood on the top of a certain hill. ²⁶And Abner called to Joab and said, “Will the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? So how much longer will you not tell the people to stop going after their brothers?” ²⁷And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, then the people would have been led up from this morning onwards, each one pursuing his brother.” ²⁸Then Joab sounded the ramshorn, and all the people stood still, and they didn't pursue Israel any longer, and they didn't continue fighting any longer. ²⁹Then Abner and his men walked through the arid tract all that night, and they crossed the Jordan, and they walked through all of Bithron, and they arrived in Mahanaim. ³⁰And Joab returned from going after Abner, and he assembled all the people. Now nineteen men of David's servants were missing, as was Asahel. ³¹But David's servants had struck the Benjaminites and Abner's men, and three hundred and sixty men had died. ³²And they carried Asahel away and buried him in his father's sepulchre, which is in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men walked all night, then dawn broke on them in Hebron.