2 Samuel 2:21

2:21 Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right or to your left. Capture one of the soldiers ¹  and take his equipment for yourself!” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

2 Samuel 2:23-24

2:23 But Asahel ²  refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the back end of his ³  spear. The spear came out his back; Asahel ⁴  collapsed on the spot and died there right before Abner. ⁵  Everyone who now comes to the place where Asahel fell dead pauses in respect. ⁶ 

2:24 So Joab and Abishai chased Abner. At sunset they came to the hill of Ammah near Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.

2 Samuel 2:26

2:26 Then Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?”

2 Samuel 3:12

3:12 Then Abner sent messengers ⁷  to David saying, “To whom does the land belong? Make an agreement ⁸  with me, and I will do whatever I can ⁹  to cause all Israel to turn to you.”

2 Samuel 3:22

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  had sent him away and he had left in peace.

2 Samuel 3:25

3:25 You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return ¹²  and to discover everything that you are doing!”

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 ¹³  in the abdomen and killed him, avenging the shed blood of his brother Asahel. ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 3:31

3:31 David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes! Put on sackcloth! Lament before Abner!” Now King David followed ¹⁵  behind the funeral bier.

2 Samuel 4:12

4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them ¹⁶  near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth ¹⁷  and buried it in the tomb of Abner ¹⁸  in Hebron. ¹⁹ 

[2:21]  ¹ tn Heb “young men.” So also elsewhere.

[2:23]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ³ tn Heb “the.” The article functions here as a possessive pronoun.

[2:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Asahel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they stand.”

[3:12]  ³ tn The Hebrew text adds here, “on his behalf.”

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “cut a covenant.” So also in vv. 13, 21.

[3:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and behold, my hand is with you.”

[3:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

[3:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.

[3:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he struck him down there [in] the stomach.”

[3:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he [i.e., Abner] died on account of the blood of Asahel his [i.e., Joab’s] brother.”

[3:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “was walking.”

[4:12]  ⁸ tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”

[4:12]  ⁹ tc 4QSam^a mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.

[4:12]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.

[4:12]  ¹¹ tc Some mss of the LXX lack the phrase “in Hebron.”