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¹ And it comes to pass afterward, that David inquires of YHWH, saying, "Do I go up into one of the cities of Judah?" And YHWH says to him, "Go up." And David says, "To where do I go up?" And He says, "To Hebron."² And David goes up there, and also his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite;³ and David has brought up his men who [are] with him—a man and his household—and they dwell in the cities of Hebron.⁴ And the men of Judah come, and anoint David there for king over the house of Judah; and they declare to David, saying, "The men of Jabesh-Gilead [are] they who buried Saul."⁵ And David sends messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and says to them, "Blessed [are] you of YHWH, in that you have done this kindness with your lord, with Saul, that you bury him.⁶ And now YHWH does kindness and truth with you, and I also do this good with you because you have done this thing;⁷ and now your hands are strong, and be for sons of valor, for your lord Saul [is] dead, and the house of Judah has also anointed me for king over them."

⁸ And Abner, son of Ner, head of the host which Saul has, has taken Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, and causes him to pass over to Mahanaim,⁹ and causes him to reign over Gilead, and over the Ashurite, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over Israel—all of it.¹⁰ Ish-Bosheth son of Saul [is] a son of forty years in his reigning over Israel, and he has reigned [for] two years; only the house of Judah has been after David.¹¹ And the number of the days that David has been king in Hebron, over the house of Judah, is seven years and six months.¹² And Abner son of Ner goes out, and servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, from Mahanaim to Gibeon.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 [side].¹⁴ And Abner says to Joab, "Now let the youths rise and they play before us"; and Joab says, "Let them rise."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.¹⁶ And they each lay hold on the head of his companion, and his sword [is] in the side of his companion, and they fall together, and [one] calls that place Helkath-Hazzurim, which [is] in Gibeon,¹⁷ and the battle is very hard on that day, and Abner is struck, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.

¹⁸ And there are three sons of Zeruiah there: Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel [is] light on his feet, as one of the roes which [are] in the field,¹⁹ and Asahel pursues after Abner, and has not turned aside to go to the right or to the left, from after Abner.²⁰ And Abner looks behind him and says, "Are you he—Asahel?" And he says, "I [am]."²¹ And Abner says to him, "Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the youths for yourself, and take his armor for yourself"; and Asahel has not been willing to turn aside from after him.²² And Abner adds again, saying to Asahel, "Turn aside from after me, why do I strike you to the earth? And how do I lift up my face to your brother Joab?"²³ And he refuses to turn aside, and Abner strikes him with the back part of the spear to the fifth [rib], and the spear comes out from behind him, and he falls there, and dies under it; and it comes to pass, everyone who has come to the place where Asahel has fallen and dies—they stand still.²⁴ And Joab and Abishai pursue after Abner, and the sun has gone in, and they have come to the height of Ammah, which [is] on the front of Giah, the way of the wilderness of 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,²⁶ and Abner calls to Joab and says, "Does the sword consume forever? Have you not known that it is bitterness in the latter end? And until when do you not say to the people to turn back from after their brothers?"²⁷ And Joab says, "God lives! For unless you had spoken, surely then from the morning each of the people had gone up from after his brother."²⁸ And Joab blows with a horn, and all the people stand still, and no longer pursue after Israel, nor have they added to fight anymore.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 to Mahanaim.³⁰ And Joab has turned back from after Abner, and gathers all the people, and there are lacking of the servants of David nineteen men, and Asahel;³¹ and the servants of David have struck of Benjamin, even among the men of Abner, three hundred and sixty men—they died.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 [dawn's light] shines on them in Hebron.