2 Samuel 3

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

¹ Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.

Sons born to David in Hebron

² Sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; ³ his second, Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; ⁴ the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; ⁵ and the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron.

Abner goes over to David

⁶ While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. ⁷ Now Saul had had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, "Why have you gone in to my father's concubine?" ⁸ Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, "Am I a dog's head belonging to Judah? To this day I keep showing lovingkindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and I have not handed you over into the hand of David; and yet today you charge me with a fault concerning this woman! ⁹ May Elohim do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not do for David just as Yahweh has sworn to him, ¹⁰ to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba." ¹¹ And he could not answer Abner a word, because he was afraid of him.

¹² Then Abner sent messengers to David on his own behalf, saying, "Whose is the land?" and saying, "Make your covenant with me, and see, my hand will be with you to bring all Israel over to you." ¹³ He said, "Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you: you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal the daughter of Saul when you come to see my face." ¹⁴ Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines." ¹⁵ So Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, from Paltiel the son of Laish. ¹⁶ But her husband went with her, weeping as he walked behind her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go, return." And he returned.

¹⁷ Now Abner had spoken with the elders of Israel, saying, "For some time now you have been seeking David as king over you. ¹⁸ Now then, do it! For Yahweh has spoken of David, saying, 'By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.'" ¹⁹ Abner also spoke in the hearing of Benjamin; and Abner went also to speak in the hearing of David at Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and to the whole house of Benjamin. ²⁰ When Abner came to David at Hebron with twenty men, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. ²¹ Abner said to David, "Let me arise and go and gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your soul desires." So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

Joab murders Abner

²² Just then the servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought much plunder with them. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. ²³ When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, they told Joab, "Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he has gone in peace." ²⁴ Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? See, Abner came to you; why have you sent him away, so that he is gone? ²⁵ You know Abner the son of Ner: he came to deceive you, and to learn your going out and your coming in, and to find out everything you are doing." ²⁶ When Joab had left David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David did not know it. ²⁷ When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly, and he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.

²⁸ Afterward, when David heard it, he said, "I and my kingdom are innocent before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. ²⁹ May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house; and may there never fail to be in the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or one with tsara'at, or one who holds a spindle, or one who falls by the sword, or one who lacks bread." ³⁰ So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death at Gibeon in the battle.

David mourns for Abner

³¹ Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner." And King David walked behind the bier. ³² They buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at Abner's grave, and all the people wept. ³³ And the king sang a lament for Abner and said, "Should Abner die as a fool dies? ³⁴ Your hands were not bound, your feet were not put in fetters; as one falls before the wicked, you fell." And all the people wept over him again. ³⁵ Then all the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was still day; but David swore, saying, "May Elohim do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down!" ³⁶ All the people took note of it, and it pleased them, just as everything the king did pleased all the people. ³⁷ So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's will to put Abner the son of Ner to death. ³⁸ Then the king said to his servants, "Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? ³⁹ And I am weak today, though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too harsh for me. May Yahweh repay the evildoer according to his evil!"

Notes

• 3:5 Several of these sons shape the story that follows: Amnon (chapter 13), Absalom, whose mother came from the royal house of Geshur east of the Sea of Galilee (chapters 13-18), and Adonijah (1 Kings 1-2). Chronicles calls the second son Daniel (1 Chronicles 3:1). The Torah had warned that the king must not multiply wives (Deuteronomy 17:17); the narrator simply lists them and lets the later chapters show the cost.
• 3:7 The Hebrew says only "and he said"; verse 8 shows that the speaker is Ish-bosheth. To take a dead king's concubine could be read as a claim to his throne (compare Absalom in 16:21-22 and Adonijah's request in 1 Kings 2:22), so the charge was a grave one, whether or not it was true. Rizpah appears again, faithful to her sons, in 21:8-11.
• 3:18 No word in exactly these terms is recorded earlier; Abner sums up what Yahweh had made known about David, in words close to those once spoken of Saul (1 Samuel 9:16). "My servant David" becomes a lasting title: Yahweh uses it in the covenant of chapter 7 (7:5, 8), the prophets use it of the coming shepherd-king (Ezekiel 34:23-24; 37:24-25), and Zechariah praises Elohim for raising up salvation "in the house of David His servant" (Luke 1:69).
• 3:27 Joab acts as the avenger of blood (Numbers 35:19), but Asahel had fallen in battle after being warned twice (2:21-22), and, as many have noted, Hebron was one of the cities of refuge (Joshua 20:7), where a killer was to be heard before he could be put to death. Joab strikes "in the belly," where Abner had struck Asahel (2:23). Abner's coming and going "in peace" (verses 21-23) makes the betrayal plain, and Solomon later names this blood among Joab's crimes (1 Kings 2:5, 32).
• 3:34 "A fool" is naval, a word for a senseless, godless man; it recalls Nabal of 1 Samuel 25, whose name means the same. Abner was no prisoner in chains and no fool: a free man and a warrior, he fell not in battle but through treachery, cut down as one falls "before the wicked" (literally "sons of wickedness").
• 3:39 "Weak" is rakh, "tender, soft": newly anointed and still king over Judah only, David cannot yet bring his powerful nephews to justice. He leaves the matter with Yahweh, and only at the end of his life does he charge Solomon to deal with Joab (1 Kings 2:5-6, 31-34).

2 Samuel 2 · 2 Samuel 4

Open in the study app