2 Samuel 2:28-32

2:28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn and all the people stopped in their tracks. ¹  They stopped chasing Israel and ceased fighting. ²  2:29 Abner and his men went through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan River ³  and went through the whole region of Bitron ⁴  and came to Mahanaim.

2:30 Now Joab returned from chasing Abner and assembled all the people. Nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing, in addition to Asahel. 2:31 But David’s soldiers had slaughtered the Benjaminites and Abner’s men – in all, 360 men had died! 2:32 They took Asahel’s body and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. ⁵  Joab and his men then traveled all that night and reached Hebron by dawn.

¹ tn Heb “stood.”

² tn Heb “they no longer chased after Israel and they no longer fought.”

³ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “and they went, all the Bitron.” The meaning of the Hebrew word “Bitron,” which is used only here in the OT, is disputed. The translation above follows BDB 144 s.v. בִּתְרוֹן in taking the word to be a proper name of an area east of the Jordan. A different understanding was advocated by W. R. Arnold, who took the word to refer to the forenoon or morning; a number of modern scholars and translations have adopted this view (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT). See W. R. Arnold, “The Meaning of בתרון,” AJSL 28 (1911-1912): 274-83. In this case one could translate “and they traveled all morning long.”

⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.