2 Samuel 2:1

David is Anointed King

2:1 Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

2 Samuel 3:19

3:19 Then Abner spoke privately ²  with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately ³  of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 3:22

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers ⁵  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ⁶  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

2 Samuel 3:27

3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside at the gate as if to speak privately with him. Joab then stabbed him ⁷  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “he said.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “into the ears of.”

³ tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”

⁴ tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”

³ tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “and he struck him down there [in] the stomach.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he [i.e., Abner] died on account of the blood of Asahel his [i.e., Joab’s] brother.”