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On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
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“Where have you come from?” David asked him. He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
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Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
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“Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’
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“So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
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Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them.
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David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered.
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David asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
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Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.
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For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”
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David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns.
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he sent messengers to them to say to them, “The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him.
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War Between the Houses of David and Saul
Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
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He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.
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Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.” “All right, let them do it,” Joab said.
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He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him.
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Abner looked behind him and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is,” he answered.
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Then Abner said to him, “Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
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But David’s men had killed three hundred and sixty Benjamites who were with Abner.
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They took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron by daybreak.
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May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath
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Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.
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Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back home!” So he went back.
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When Abner, who had twenty men with him, came to David at Hebron, David prepared a feast for him and his men.
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Joab Murders Abner
Just then David’s men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.
