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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>2 Samuel 2 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_samuel/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/2_samuel/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > 2 Samuel 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_samuel/1.htm" title="2 Samuel 1">◄</a> 2 Samuel 2 <a href="../2_samuel/3.htm" title="2 Samuel 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/2_samuel/2.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">David Anointed King of Judah</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>After this David inquired of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.</p><p class="regular">When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Now may the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”</p> <p class="heading">Ish-bosheth Made King of Israel</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Ish-bosheth, 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.</p> <p class="heading">The Battle of Gibeon</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men arise and compete before us.” And Joab said, “Let them arise.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent’s side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Helkath-hazzurim means the field of sword-edges">a</a></sup></span> which is at Gibeon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Is it you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Abner said to him, “Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.” But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David’s servants nineteen men besides Asahel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner’s men. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/2-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">16</span> <i class="catch-word">Helkath-hazzurim</i> means <i>the field of sword-edges</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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