2 Samuel 2: David is anointed king of Judah at Hebron, and the war with Abner begins

In plain English: After this, David asked Yahweh (this Bible: inquired of Yahweh), "Shall I go up into one of the towns (this Bible: cities) of Judah?" Yahweh said to him, "Go up." David said, "Where shall I go up?" He said, "To Hebron."

Good to know: As in 1 Samuel 23:2 and 30:8, the text says David inquired of Yahweh and gives the answer. It does not say here how he asked or how the answer came.

In plain English: So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel (this Bible: the Jezreelitess) and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel (this Bible: the Carmelite).

In plain English: David also brought up the men who were with him, each man with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron.

In plain English: The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David, "It was the men of Jabesh Gilead who buried Saul."

Good to know: The men of Jabesh Gilead took the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh (1 Samuel 31:11 to 31:13). David was anointed once before, by Samuel (16:13). Here the men of Judah anoint him king over the house of Judah.

In plain English: David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said to them, "You are blessed by Yahweh (or: May you be blessed by Yahweh), because you showed this kindness (or: loyalty) to your lord Saul and buried him.

In plain English: Now may Yahweh show you kindness and faithfulness (this Bible: loving kindness and truth). I too will show you this goodness (this Bible: reward you for this kindness), because you have done this thing.

In plain English: So now, let your hands be strong, and be brave (literally: be sons of strength). For Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."

In plain English: Now Abner the son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ishbosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.

Good to know: In Hebrew, Ishbosheth is written as two words, ish bosheth. The dictionary gives ish as "a man" and bosheth as "shame". The text does not explain the name. 1 Chronicles 8:33 names a son of Saul "Eshbaal", and the dictionary gives that name as "Eshbaal (or Ishbosheth), a son of Saul". Gideon's name Jerubbaal is also written "Jerubbesheth" in 2 Samuel 11:21 (see the note on Judges 6:32).

Good to know: Mahanaim is the place Jacob named in Genesis 32:2, when he said, "This is God's army." It is east of the Jordan: in verse 29 Abner crosses the Jordan to go back there.

In plain English: He made him king over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, over Benjamin, and over all Israel.

In plain English: Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.

Good to know: These are the text's own numbers. It gives Ishbosheth two years as king over Israel, and David seven years and six months as king over Judah in Hebron (verse 11, and again in 5:5). The text does not say how the two lengths of time fit together.

In plain English: The time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

In plain English: Abner the son of Ner went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon with the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul.

In plain English: Joab the son of Zeruiah and David's servants went out too, and met them at the pool of Gibeon. They sat down, one group on one side of the pool and the other on the other side.

In plain English: Abner said to Joab, "Please let the young men get up and compete (literally: play) before us." Joab said, "Let them get up."

The Hebrew word: "Compete" is sachaq, which the dictionary gives as "to laugh (in pleasure or detraction); by implication, to play". This Bible says "laugh" or a longer form in 10 of the 36 verses that use it, and "play" or a longer form in 8.

What changes: Read as "compete", the way this Bible has it, Abner asks for a contest between the young men of each side. Read as "play", he speaks of the fight as a game to be watched. Either way, in verse 16 they all fall together.

In plain English: So they got up and went across by number: twelve for Benjamin and for Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of David's servants.

In plain English: Each one caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent's side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim (see the note).

The Hebrew words: The text says the place was named for what happened there, but it does not explain the name. The dictionary gives Helkath Hazzurim as "a place in Palestine" and reads it as "smoothness of the rocks". In Hebrew it is two words. The first is a form of chelqah, which the dictionary gives as "smoothness" and "also an allotment", a piece of ground. The second is from tsur, which the dictionary gives as "a rock" and "also an edge"; in Psalm 89:43 this Bible gives it as "the edge of his sword". So the name can be read "smoothness of the rocks", "the field of rocks" or "the field of (sword) edges". The text does not say which. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "The portion of the treacherous ones".

In plain English: The battle that day was very fierce (this Bible: severe), and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before David's servants.

In plain English: The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was as fast on his feet as a wild gazelle (literally: one of the gazelles in the open field).

In plain English: Asahel chased Abner, and he did not turn to the right or to the left from following Abner.

In plain English: Then Abner looked behind him and said, "Is that you, Asahel?" He answered, "It is."

In plain English: Abner said to him, "Turn aside to your right or to your left, take hold of one of the young men, and take his armor (literally: what is stripped from him) for yourself." But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

In plain English: Abner said again to Asahel, "Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? Then how could I look your brother Joab in the face (literally: lift up my face to Joab your brother)?"

In plain English: But he refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the belly (this Bible: body) with the back end of the spear, and the spear came out behind him. He fell there and died on the spot. Everyone who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still.

In plain English: But Joab and Abishai chased Abner. The sun went down as they came to the hill of Ammah, which faces Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

In plain English: The men (this Bible: children) of Benjamin gathered behind Abner and became one band, and they stood on the top of a hill.

In plain English: Then Abner called to Joab, "Must the sword devour forever? Don't you know that it will be bitter in the end? How long will it be before you tell the people to turn back from chasing their brothers?"

In plain English: Joab said, "As God lives, if you had not spoken, the people would have gone away in the morning and not chased their brothers (or: the people would not have stopped chasing their brothers until morning: see the note)."

The Hebrew words: Joab's words are short in Hebrew. "In the morning" is word for word "from the morning", and the text does not say which of Abner's words Joab means by "if you had not spoken".

What changes: Read the way this Bible has it, Joab says that if Abner had not spoken, the people would have gone away in the morning and not chased their brothers. Read the other way, Joab says that if Abner had not spoken now, the people would not have stopped chasing their brothers until morning. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "even from the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother". Either way, in verse 28 Joab blows the trumpet and the chase stops.

In plain English: So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the people stopped. They did not chase Israel any more, and they fought no more.

In plain English: Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, went through all of Bithron, and came to Mahanaim.

In plain English: Joab came back from chasing Abner and gathered all the people together. Of David's servants, nineteen men were missing, and Asahel.

In plain English: But David's servants had struck down Benjamin and Abner's men, and three hundred sixty men died.

In plain English: They took up Asahel and buried him in his father's tomb in Bethlehem. Joab and his men went on all night, and the day broke on them at Hebron.