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¹ After this, Dauid asked counsel at the lord, saying: Shall I go vp into any of the cities of Iuda? And the Lorde sayd vnto him: Go vp. And Dauid said: Whyther shall I go? He aunswered: Unto Hebron.² And so Dauid went thyther with his two wyues, Ahinoam the Iezraelite, & Abigail Nabals wyfe the Carmelite.³ And the men that were with him did Dauid cary vp also, euery man with his housholde: And they dwelt in the townes of Hebron.⁴ And the men of Iuda came, and there they annoynted Dauid kyng ouer the house of Iuda: And they tolde Dauid, saying, It is the men of Iabes Gilead that buried Saul.⁵ And Dauid sent messengers vnto the men of Iabes Gilead, and sayde vnto them: Blessed are ye vnto the lord, that ye haue shewed suche kindnesse vnto your lord Saul, and haue buried him.⁶ And nowe the Lorde shewe mercy and trueth vnto you: And I will do you also suche kindnes, as ye haue done in this thing:⁷ Therfore nowe let your handes be strong, and play ye the men: For your maister Saul is dead, and they that are of the house of Iuda haue annoynted me king ouer them.

⁸ But Abner the sonne of Ner that was captayne of Sauls hoaste, toke Isboseth the sonne of Saul, and brought him to Mahanaim,⁹ And made him king ouer Gilead, and ouer the Assurites, and ouer Iezrael, Ephraim, Beniamin, & ouer all Israel.¹⁰ And Isboseth Sauls sonne was fourtie yeres olde when he began to raigne ouer Israel, and raigned two yeres: But the house of Iuda folowed Dauid.¹¹ (And the time whiche Dauid raigned in Hebron ouer the house of Iuda, was seuen yeres and sixe monethes.)¹² And Abner the sonne of Ner, and the seruauntes of Isboseth the sonne of Saul wet out of Mahanaim to Gibeon¹³ And Ioab the sonne of Zaruia, and the seruauntes of Dauid, went out and met one another by the poole of Gibeon: And they sate downe, the one on the one side of the poole, and the other on the other side.¹⁴ And Abner sayde to Ioab: Let the young men nowe aryse, and play before vs. And Ioab sayde: Let them aryse.¹⁵ Then there arose & went ouer twelue of Beniamin by numbre, which pertayned to Isboseth the sonne of Saul, and twelue of the seruauntes of Dauid.¹⁶ And euery one caught his felowe by ye head, & thrust his sword in his felowes side, and so they fell downe together: Wherefore the place was called Helkath hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.¹⁷ And there was an exceeding cruell battel that same day: For Abner and the men of Israel fell before the seruauntes of Dauid.

¹⁸ And there were three sonnes of Zaruia there: Ioab, Abisai, and Asahel: And Asahel was as light of foote as a wilde Roe.¹⁹ And Asahel folowed after Abner, and in goyng he turned neither to the right hande nor to the left, from Abner.²⁰ Then Abner loked behynd him, and sayde: Art thou Asahel? He aunswered: Yea.²¹ Abner sayd: Turne thee either to the right hande or the left, and catche one of the young men, and take thee his weapons. But Asahel woulde not depart from him.²² And Abner sayd agayne to Asahel, Depart fro me: Wherfore should I smite thee to the grounde, and not be able to holde vp my face to Ioab thy brother?²³ Howebeit, when he woulde in no wyse depart, Abner with the hynder ende of the speare smote him vnder the fyft ribbe, that the speare came out behinde him, that he fell downe in the same place, and died there: And as many as came to the place where Asahel fell downe and died, stoode still.²⁴ Ioab also and Abisai pursued after Abner: And the sunne went downe when they were come to the hil Amma, that lyeth before Giah, by the way of the wildernesse of Gibeon.

²⁵ And the children of Beniamin gathered them selues together after Abner, & were on a heape, and stoode on the top of an hill.²⁶ Then Abner called to Ioab, and said: Shall the sword deuour for euer? Knowest thou not, that it wil be bitternesse in the latter ende? Howe long then shall it be yer thou bid the people returne from folowing their brethren?²⁷ And Ioab sayde: As God lyueth, if thou haddest not spoken, suerly euen in the morning the people had departed, euery one from persecuting his brother.²⁸ And so Ioab blewe a trumpet, and all the people stoode still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.²⁹ And Abner and his men walked all that night through the playne, & went ouer Iordane, & past through all Bethhoron, till they came to Mahanaim.³⁰ And Ioab returned from persecuting Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of Dauids seruautes nineteene men, & Asahel.³¹ But the seruauntes of Dauid had smitten of Beniamin and of Abners men, [so that] three hundred and threescore men died.³² And they toke vp Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Bethlehem: And Ioab and his men went all night, and the day arose to them at Hebron.