<p class="bodytext">Then Joab sent a full battle report to David.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">How the warriors have fallenp> <p class="poetry">in the midst of battle!p> <p class="poetry">Jonathan lies slain on your high places!p>

When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going.<n id="1" />

He instructed the messenger as follows: &#8220;When you finish giving the battle report to the king,

<p class="bodytext">Then the army marched out to the field to fight against Israel. The battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

<p class="bodytext">Now the battle was very severe that day; Abner and the men of Israel were overcome by David&#8217;s soldiers.<n id="1" />

However, the war was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David. David was becoming steadily stronger, while the house of Saul was becoming increasingly weaker.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">As the war continued between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was becoming more influential<n id="1" /> in the house of Saul.

<p class="bodytext">When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel&#8217;s best men and deployed them against the Arameans.<n id="1" />

In the letter he wrote: &#8220;Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.&#8221;p>

The battle there was spread out over the whole area, and the forest consumed more soldiers than the sword devoured that day.p>

<p class="bodytext">Later there was another battle with the Philistines, this time in Gob. On that occasion Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

David inquired, &#8220;How were things going?<n id="1" /> Tell me!&#8221; He replied, &#8220;The people fled from the battle and many of them<n id="2" /> fell dead.<n id="3" /> Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead!&#8221;

Yet another battle occurred with the Philistines in Gob. On that occasion Elhanan the son of Jair<n id="1" /> the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite,<n id="2" /> the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver&#8217;s beam.