Joab’s brother Asahel was killed

18 Zeruiah’s three sons were there on that day: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was able to run very fast; he could run as fast as a wild gazelle/antelope. 19 Asahel started to pursue Abner. He ran straight toward Abner, without stopping. 20 Abner looked behind him, and said “Is that you, Asahel?” Asahel replied, “Yes!”

21 Abner yelled at him, “Turn to one side or the other, and pursue someone else!” But Asahel would not stop pursuing Abner.

22 So Abner yelled at him again, “Stop ◄chasing after/pursuing► me! ◄Why should I kill you?/It would not be good for me to kill you!► [RHQ] If I did that, ◄how could I your brother Joab?/it would be very difficult for me to your brother Joab.► [RHQ]”

23 But Asahel refused to stop pursuing Abner. So Abner suddenly turned and thrust the butt end of his spear into Asahel’s stomach. Because he thrust it very strongly, that end of the spear went though Asahel’s body and came out at his back, and he fell to the ground, dead. All the other soldiers who came to the place where his body was lying stopped and stood there, stunned.

24 But Joab and Abishai continued to pursue Abner. At sunset they came to Ammah Hill, which is east of Giah, along the road to the desert near Gibeon. 25 The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner in one group, and stood at the top of a hill.

26 Then Abner called out to Joab, saying “Are we going to continue to fight forever [RHQ]? Do you not realize that if we continue fighting, the result will be very bad [RHQ]? We are all descendants of Jacob. So we should stop fighting each other ◄How long will it be until you tell your soldiers to stop pursuing us?/Tell your soldiers to stop pursuing us.►” [RHQ]

27 Joab replied, “Just as surely as God lives, if you had not said that, my soldiers would have continued pursuing your men until tomorrow morning!”

28 So Joab blew a trumpet to signal that they should stop fighting. So all his men did that. They did not pursue the soldiers of Israel any more, and they stopped fighting.

29 That night Abner and his soldiers went through the Jordan River Valley. They crossed the Jordan River and marched all the next morning, and they finally arrived at Mahanaim.

30 Joab and his soldiers stopped pursuing Abner. And when he gathered all his soldiers together, he found out that in addition to Asahel, only 19 of them had been killed in the battle. 31 But David’s soldiers had killed 360 of Abner’s men, all from the tribe of Benjamin. 32 Some of Joab’s soldiers took Asahel’s body and buried it in the tomb where his father had been buried, in Bethlehem. Then they marched all during the night, and at dawn they arrived back home at Hebron.

3 There was a long war between those who wanted Saul’s son to be their king and those who wanted David to be their king. But more and more people began to want David to be the king, while the number of people who wanted Saul’s son to be the king continued to become smaller.