2 Samuel 1-4

Easy-to-Read Version

David Learns About Saul’s Death

1 After David defeated the Amalekites, he went back to Ziklag. This was just after Saul had been killed. David had been there two days. ² Then, on the third day, a young soldier from Saul’s camp came to Ziklag. His clothes were torn, and he had dirt on his head.^[a] He came to David and bowed with his face to the ground.

³ David asked him, “Where have you come from?”

The man answered, “I just came from the Israelite camp.”

⁴ David asked him, “Please tell me, who won the battle?”

The man answered, “Our people ran away from the battle. Many of them were killed in the battle. Even Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

⁵ David said to the young soldier, “How do you know Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

⁶ The young soldier said, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa. I saw Saul leaning on his spear. The Philistine chariots and horse soldiers were coming closer and closer to Saul. ⁷ Saul looked back and saw me. He called to me and I answered him. ⁸ Then Saul asked me who I was. I told him that I was an Amalekite. ⁹ Then Saul said, ‘Please kill me. I am hurt badly. And I am about to die anyway.’ ¹⁰ He was hurt so badly that I knew he wouldn’t live. So I stopped and killed him. Then I took the crown from his head and the bracelet from his arm and brought them here to you, my lord.”

¹¹ Then David tore his clothes to show he was very sad. All the men with him did the same thing. ¹² They were very sad and cried. They did not eat until evening. They cried because Saul and his son Jonathan were dead. David and his men cried for the Lord’s people, and they cried for Israel. They cried because Saul, his son Jonathan, and many Israelites had been killed in battle.

David Orders the Amalekite Killed

¹³ Then David talked with the young soldier who had told him about Saul’s death. David asked, “Where are you from?”

The young soldier answered, “I am the son of a foreigner. I am an Amalekite.”

¹⁴ David said to the young soldier, “Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord’s chosen king^[b]?”

^15-16 Then David told the Amalekite, “You are responsible for your own death. You said you killed the Lord’s chosen king, so your own words prove you are guilty.” Then David called one of his young servants and told him to kill the Amalekite. So the young Israelite killed him.

David’s Song About Saul and Jonathan

¹⁷ David sang a sad song about Saul and his son Jonathan. ¹⁸ David told his men to teach the song to the people of Judah. This song is called “The Bow,” and it is written in the Book of Jashar.^[c]

David Is Anointed King of Judah

2 Later David asked the Lord for advice. David said, “Should I take control^[g] of any of the cities of Judah?”

The Lord said to David, “Yes.”

David asked, “Where should I go?”

The Lord answered, “To Hebron.”

² So David and his two wives moved to Hebron. (His wives were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal from Carmel.) ³ David also brought his men and their families. All of them made their homes in Hebron and the towns nearby.

⁴ The men of Judah came to Hebron and anointed David to be the king of Judah. Then they told David, “The men of Jabesh Gilead buried Saul.”

⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead. These messengers told the men in Jabesh: “The Lord bless you, because you have shown kindness to your lord Saul by burying him.^{[h] 6} The Lord will be kind and true to you, and so will I. ⁷ Now be strong and brave. Your lord, Saul, is dead, but the tribe of Judah has anointed me to be their king.”

Ish Bosheth Becomes King

⁸ Abner son of Ner was the captain of Saul’s army. Abner took Ish Bosheth^[i] son of Saul to Mahanaim ⁹ and made him king of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel.^[j]

¹⁰ Ish Bosheth son of Saul was 40 years old when he began to rule over Israel. He ruled Israel two years, but the tribe of Judah followed David. ¹¹ David ruled over the tribe of Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months.

The Deadly Contest

¹² Abner son of Ner and the officers of Ish Bosheth son of Saul left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. ¹³ Joab, Zeruiah’s son, and the officers of David also went to Gibeon. They met Abner and Ish Bosheth’s officers at the pool of Gibeon. Abner’s group sat on one side of the pool. Joab’s group sat on the other side.

¹⁴ Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have the young soldiers get up and have a contest here.”

Joab said, “Yes, let’s have a contest.”

¹⁵ So the young soldiers got up. The two groups counted their men for the contest. They chose twelve men from the tribe of Benjamin to fight for Ish Bosheth son of Saul, and they chose twelve men from David’s officers. ¹⁶ Each of the men grabbed his opponent’s head and stabbed him in the side with his sword, and then they fell down together. That is why this place in Gibeon is called “The Field of the Sharp Knives.”^{[k] 17} That contest turned into a terrible battle and David’s officers defeated Abner and the Israelites that day.

Abner Kills Asahel

¹⁸ Zeruiah had three sons, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, as fast as a wild deer. ¹⁹ Asahel ran straight toward Abner and began chasing him. ²⁰ Abner looked back and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?”

Asahel said, “Yes, it’s me.”

²¹ Abner didn’t want to hurt Asahel, so he said to Asahel, “Stop chasing me—go after one of the young soldiers. You could easily take his armor for yourself.” But Asahel refused to stop chasing Abner.

²² Abner again said to Asahel, “Stop chasing me, or I will have to kill you. Then I will not be able to look your brother Joab in the face again.”

²³ But Asahel refused to stop chasing Abner. So Abner used the back end of his spear and pushed it into Asahel’s stomach. The spear went deep into Asahel’s stomach and came out of his back. Asahel died right there.

Joab and Abishai Chase Abner

Asahel’s body lay on the ground. Everyone who came that way stopped to look at Asahel, ²⁴ but Joab and Abishai^[l] continued chasing Abner. The sun was just going down when they came to Ammah Hill. (Ammah Hill is in front of Giah on the way to the desert of Gibeon.) ²⁵ The men from the tribe of Benjamin gathered around Abner at the top of the hill.

²⁶ Abner shouted to Joab and said, “Must we fight and kill each other forever? Surely you know that this will only end in sadness. Tell the people to stop chasing their own brothers.”

²⁷ Then Joab said, “As surely as God is alive, if you had not said something, people would still be chasing their brothers in the morning.” ²⁸ So Joab blew a trumpet, and his people stopped chasing the Israelites. They did not try to fight the Israelites anymore.

²⁹ Abner and his men marched all night through the Jordan Valley. They crossed the Jordan River and then marched all day until they came to Mahanaim.

³⁰ Joab stopped chasing Abner and turned back. Joab had gathered his men and learned that 19 of David’s officers were missing, including Asahel. ³¹ But David’s officers had killed 360 of Abner’s men from the tribe of Benjamin. ³² David’s officers took Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father at Bethlehem.

Joab and his men marched all night. The sun came up just as they reached Hebron.

War Between Israel and Judah

3 There was war for a long time between Saul’s family and David’s family. David became stronger and stronger, but Saul’s family became weaker and weaker.

David’s Six Sons Born at Hebron

² These are David’s sons who were born at Hebron:

These sons were all born at Hebron.

Abner Decides to Join David

⁶ As the families of Saul and David fought each other, Abner became more and more powerful in Saul’s army. ⁷ Saul had a slave woman named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ish Bosheth said to Abner, “Why did you have sexual relations with my father’s servant woman?”

⁸ This made Abner very angry. He said, “I have been loyal to Saul and his family. I did not give you to David. I am not a traitor working for Judah.^[m] But now you are saying that I did this bad thing. ^9-10 The Lord promised with an oath that he would take the kingdom away from Saul’s family and give it to David. And I swear I will make sure that happens. God will make David king of Judah and Israel. He will rule from Dan to Beersheba.^[n]” ¹¹ Ish Bosheth was too afraid of Abner to say anything in response.

¹² Abner sent messengers to David and said, “Who do you think should rule this country? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you become the ruler of all the people of Israel.”

¹³ David answered, “Good! I will make an agreement with you. But I ask you only one thing: I will not meet with you until you bring Saul’s daughter Michal to me.”

¹⁴ David sent messengers to Saul’s son Ish Bosheth. David said, “Give me my wife Michal. She was promised to me. I killed 100 Philistines to get her.”^[o]

¹⁵ Then Ish Bosheth told the men to go and take Michal from a man named Paltiel son of Laish. ¹⁶ Michal’s husband, Paltiel, followed them, crying all the way to Bahurim. Finally, Abner said to him, “Go back home.” So Paltiel went back home.

¹⁷ Abner sent this message to the leaders of Israel. He said, “For a long time you have wanted to make David your king. ¹⁸ Now do it! The Lord was talking about David when he said, ‘I will save my people the Israelites from the Philistines and all their other enemies. I will do this through my servant David.’”

¹⁹ Abner said these things to David in Hebron, and he said these things to the people of the tribe of Benjamin. The things Abner said sounded good to the tribe of Benjamin and to all the people of Israel.

²⁰ Then Abner came up to David at Hebron. Abner brought 20 men with him. David gave a party for Abner and for all the men who came with him.

²¹ Abner said to David, “My lord and king, let me go bring all the Israelites to you. Then they will make an agreement with you, and you will rule over all Israel, as you wanted.”

So David let Abner leave in peace.

Abner’s Death

²² Joab and David’s officers came back from battle. They had many valuable things that they had taken from the enemy. David had just let Abner leave in peace. So Abner was not there in Hebron with David. ²³ Joab and all his army arrived at Hebron. The army said to Joab, “Abner son of Ner came to King David, and David let Abner leave in peace.”

²⁴ Joab came to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner came to you, but you sent him away without hurting him! Why? ²⁵ You know Abner son of Ner. He came to trick you. He came to learn all about what you are doing.”

²⁶ Joab left David and sent messengers to Abner at the well of Sirah. The messengers brought Abner back, but David did not know this. ²⁷ When Abner arrived at Hebron, Joab met him in the gateway, pulled him aside to talk in private, and then stabbed him in the stomach. So he got his revenge against Abner. Joab killed Abner because Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel.

David Cries for Abner

²⁸ Later David heard the news and said, “My kingdom and I are innocent of the death of Abner son of Ner. The Lord knows this. ²⁹ Joab and his family are responsible for this, and they will be cursed. Many troubles will come to his family. His people will be sick with leprosy, crippled, killed in war, and not have enough food to eat!”

³⁰ Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because Abner had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.

^31-32 David said to Joab and to all the people with Joab, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth. Cry for Abner.” They buried Abner in Hebron. David went to the funeral. King David and all the people cried at Abner’s grave.

³³ King David sang this sad song at Abner’s funeral:

Then all the people cried again for Abner. ³⁵ All day long people came to encourage David to eat food. But David had made a special promise. He said, “May God punish me and give me many troubles if I eat bread or any other food before the sun goes down.” ³⁶ All the people saw what happened, and they were pleased with what King David had done. ³⁷ All the people of Judah and Israel understood that King David had not killed Abner son of Ner.

³⁸ King David said to his officers, “You know that a very important leader died today in Israel. ³⁹ And it was on the very same day that I was anointed to be the king. These sons of Zeruiah have caused me a lot of trouble. May the Lord give them the punishment they deserve.”

Troubles Come to Saul’s Family

4 Saul’s son Ish Bosheth heard that Abner had died at Hebron. Ish Bosheth and all his people became very afraid. ² Two men went to see to Saul’s son. These two men were captains in the army. They were Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth. (They were Benjamites because the town Beeroth belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. ³ But all the people in Beeroth ran away to Gittaim, and they are still living there today.)

⁴ Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. He was five years old when the news came from Jezreel that Saul and Jonathan had been killed. The woman who cared for Mephibosheth picked him up and ran away. But while running away, she dropped the boy, and he became crippled in both feet.

⁵ Recab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ish Bosheth’s house at noon. Ish Bosheth was resting because it was hot. ^6-7 Recab and Baanah came into the house as if they were going to get some wheat. Ish Bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they stabbed and killed him. Then they cut off his head and took it with them. They traveled all night on the road through the Jordan Valley. ⁸ When they arrived at Hebron, they gave Ish Bosheth’s head to David.

Recab and Baanah said to King David, “Here is the head of your enemy, Ish Bosheth son of Saul. He tried to kill you, but the Lord has punished Saul and his family for you today.”

⁹ But David told Recab and his brother Baanah, “As surely as the Lord lives, he is the one who has rescued me from all my troubles! ¹⁰ Once before a man thought he would bring me good news. He told me, ‘Look! Saul is dead.’ He thought I would reward him for bringing me the news. But I grabbed this man and killed him at Ziklag. ¹¹ I will kill you too and remove this evil from our land because you evil men killed a good man sleeping on his own bed, in his own house.”

¹² So David commanded his young helpers^[p] to kill Recab and Baanah. The young men cut off the hands and feet of Recab and Baanah and hanged them by the pool of Hebron. Then they took the head of Ish Bosheth and buried it where Abner was buried at Hebron.