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31 David told Joab and everyone with him, “Show your sorrow by tearing your clothes and wearing sackcloth![a] Walk in front of Abner's body and cry!”

David walked behind the stretcher on which Abner's body was being carried. 32 Abner was buried in Hebron, while David and everyone else stood at the tomb and cried loudly. 33 Then the king sang a funeral song about Abner:

Abner, why should you
    have died like an outlaw?[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 3.31 sackcloth: Sackcloth was a rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat or camel hair and was used to make grain sacks. People wore sackcloth or tore their clothes in times of trouble or sorrow.
  2. 3.33 outlaw: Or “fool.”

31 Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth(A) and walk in mourning(B) in front of Abner.” King David himself walked behind the bier. 32 They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept(C) aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept also.

33 The king sang this lament(D) for Abner:

“Should Abner have died as the lawless die?

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