2 Samuel 2:8

Contemporary English Version

Abner the son of Ner had been the general of Saul's army. He took Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan River to Mahanaim

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and moved him to Mahanaim.

Hebrew Names Version
Now Aviner the son of Ner, captain of Sha'ul's host, had taken Ish-Boshet the son of Sha'ul, and brought him over to Machanayim;

King James Version
But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Lexham English Bible
But Abner the son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

English Standard Version
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,

New Century Version
Abner son of Ner was the commander of Saul's army. Abner took Saul's son Ish-Bosheth to Mahanaim

New English Translation
Now Abner son of Ner, the general in command of Saul's army, had taken Saul's son Ish-bosheth and had brought him to Mahanaim.

Amplified Bible
Now [Saul's cousin] Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

New American Standard Bible
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But Abner the sonne of Ner that was captaine of Sauls hoste, tooke Ish-bosheth the sonne of Saul, and brought him to Mahanaim,

Legacy Standard Bible
Now Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

Complete Jewish Bible
Avner the son of Ner, commander of Sha'ul's army, had taken Ish-Boshet the son of Sha'ul, brought him over to Machanayim,

Darby Translation
And Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Easy-to-Read Version
Abner son of Ner was the captain of Saul's army. Abner took Ish Bosheth son of Saul to Mahanaim

George Lamsa Translation
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Sauls army, took Ashbashul, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Good News Translation
The commander of Saul's army, Abner son of Ner, had fled with Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim.

Literal Translation
And Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the Saul's army, took Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and caused him to cross over to Mahanaim.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But Abner the sonne of Ner, which was Sauls chefe captayne, toke Ißboseth the sonne of Saul, and broughte him thorow the hoost,

American Standard Version
Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Bible in Basic English
Now Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had taken Saul's son Ish-bosheth over to Mahanaim,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But Abner the sonne of Ner that was captayne of Sauls hoaste, toke Isboseth the sonne of Saul, and brought him to Mahanaim,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

King James Version (1611)
But Abner the sonne of Ner, captaine of Sauls hoste, tooke Ishbosheth the sonne of Saul, and brought him ouer to Mahanaim.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But Abenner, the son of Ner, the commander-in-chief of Saul’s army, took Jebosthe son of Saul, and brought him up from the camp to Manaem

English Revised Version
Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, had taken Ish–bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Berean Standard Bible
Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, took Saul's son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe Abner, the sone of Ner, prince of the oost of Saul, took Isbosech, the sone of Saul, and ledde hym aboute bi the castels,

Young's Literal Translation
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,

Update Bible Version
Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ishbaal the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Webster's Bible Translation
But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

World English Bible
Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

New King James Version
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ishbosheth 1 Chronicles 8:33 and 1 Chronicles 9:39">[fn] the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim;

New Living Translation
But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had already gone to Mahanaim with Saul's son Ishbosheth.

New Life Bible
But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had taken Saul's son Ish-bosheth to Mahanaim.

New Revised Standard
But Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ishbaal son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
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;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But Abner the son of Ner, general of Saul’s army, took Isboseth the son of Saul, and led him about through the camp,

Revised Standard Version
Now Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-bo'sheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahana'im;

THE MESSAGE
In the meantime, Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Saul's son Ish-Bosheth to Mahanaim and made him king over Gilead, over Asher, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin—king, as it turns out, over all Israel. Ish-Bosheth Saul's son, was forty years old when he was made king over Israel. He lasted only two years. But the people of Judah stuck with David. David ruled the people of Judah from Hebron for seven and a half years.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

Contextual Overview

⁸ Abner the son of Ner had been the general of Saul's army. He took Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan River to Mahanaim ⁹ and made him king of Israel, including the areas of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin. ¹⁰ Ishbosheth was forty years old at the time, and he ruled for two years. But the tribe of Judah made David their king, ¹¹ and he ruled from Hebron for seven and a half years. ¹² One day, Abner and the soldiers of Ishbosheth left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. ¹³ Meanwhile, Joab the son of Zeruiah was leading David's soldiers, and the two groups met at the pool in Gibeon. Abner and his men sat down on one side of the pool, while Joab and his men sat on the other side. ¹⁴ Abner yelled to Joab, "Let's have some of our best soldiers get up and fight each other!" Joab agreed, ¹⁵ and twelve of Ishbosheth's men from the tribe of Benjamin got up to fight twelve of David's men. ¹⁶ They grabbed each other by the hair and stabbed each other in the side with their daggers. They all died right there! That's why the place in Gibeon is called "Field of Daggers." ¹⁷ Then everyone started fighting. Both sides fought very hard, but David's soldiers defeated Abner and the soldiers of Israel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Abner: 1 Samuel 14:50, 1 Samuel 17:55, 1 Samuel 26:14

Saul's host: Heb. the host which was Saul's

Ishbosheth: 2 Samuel 3:7, 2 Samuel 3:8, 2 Samuel 4:5, 2 Samuel 4:6, 1 Chronicles 8:33, 1 Chronicles 9:39, Esh-baal

Mahanaim: 2 Samuel 17:26, 2 Samuel 17:27, Genesis 32:2

Reciprocal: Joshua 13:26 - Mahanaim 1 Samuel 26:5 - Abner 2 Samuel 3:6 - Abner 2 Samuel 3:38 - a prince 2 Samuel 17:24 - Mahanaim 1 Kings 4:14 - Mahanaim 2 Kings 10:3 - Look even 1 Chronicles 12:29 - the greatest part of them Psalms 60:2 - broken Psalms 60:6 - divide Psalms 108:8 - Gilead

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there.

Genesis 2:9
The Lord God placed all kinds of beautiful trees and fruit trees in the garden. Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of the trees gave life—the other gave the power to know the difference between right and wrong.

Genesis 3:24
Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.

Genesis 4:16
But Cain had to go far from the Lord and live in the Land of Wandering, which is east of Eden.

Genesis 13:10
This happened before the Lord had destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when Lot looked around, he saw there was plenty of water in the Jordan Valley. All the way to Zoar the valley was as green as the garden of the Lord or the land of Egypt.

2 Kings 19:12
The Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and everyone from Eden who lived in Telassar. What good did their gods do them?

Isaiah 51:3
Though Zion is in ruins, the Lord will bring comfort, and the city will be as lovely as the garden of Eden that he provided. Then Zion will celebrate; it will be thankful and sing joyful songs.

Ezekiel 27:23
You also did business with merchants from the cities of Haran, Canneh, Eden, Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad,

Ezekiel 28:13
You lived in the garden of Eden and wore jewelry made of brightly colored gems and precious stones. They were all set in gold and were ready for you on the day you were born.

Ezekiel 31:16
This tree will crash to the ground, and I will send it to the world below. Then the nations of the earth will tremble. The trees from Eden and the choice trees from Lebanon are now in the world of the dead, and they will be comforted when this tree falls.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host,.... This man's father, Ner, was Saul's uncle, 1 Samuel 14:50, and he was his own cousin, and being general of his army, a post he was willing to keep, might be the reasons for doing what he did, as follows:

took Ishbosheth the son of Saul; and who seems to be his only son left, except what he had by his concubine. This man's name is Eshbaal in 1 Chronicles 8:33. Baal is the name of a shameful idol, and which was therefore sometimes called Bosheth, "shame". See Hosea 9:10; wherefore such names of men, which had Baal in them, were changed for Besheth or Bosheth, as the names of Jerubbaal and Meribbaal, who were called Jerubbesheth and Mephibosheth. See Judges 8:35; compared with

2 Samuel 11:21, and 2 Samuel 4:4 with 1 Chronicles 8:34. The latter of these, a son of Jonathan, bid fairest for the crown by lineal succession, but he being but five years of age, and lame, this man Abner judged fittest for his purpose; and though he knew it was the will of God, and he had sworn that David should be king, yet so blind and obstinate was his ambition, that he set up another against him:

and brought him over to Mahanaim; a city on the other side Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, on the border of the half tribe of Manasseh; see

Joshua 13:26; and hither Abner had Ishbosheth, partly to keep the men of Jabeshgilead in awe, to whom David had sent messengers, acquainting them with his being king of Judah, and prevent their joining with him; and partly that he might be at a proper distance both from the Philistines and from David, till he could form his measures, and gradually carry his point, as he did.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mahanaim - See Genesis 32:2. From 2 Samuel 2:12 it would seem to have been Ish-bosheth’s capital.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 2:8. Abner the son of Ner — This man had long been one of the chief captains of Saul's army, and commander-in-chief on several occasions; he was probably envious of David's power, by whom he had often been out-generalled in the field.