2 Samuel 2:18-32 - The Battle Of Gibeon

¹⁸ Zeruiah's three sons Joab, Abishai, and Asahel were there. As a runner, Asahel was fast, like one of the wild gazelles. ¹⁹ So Asahel ran straight after Abner, following him. ²⁰ When Abner looked behind him, he said, "Is that you, Asahel?" He answered, "I am."

²¹ Abner told him, "Go off to your right or left after one of the young men and grab some war spoils." But Asahel would not stop following him, ²² so Abner told Asahel again, "Stop following me. Why should I strike you down? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?"

²³ But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner struck Asahel in the abdomen with the butt end of his spear, and the spear protruded through his back. He collapsed to the ground and died where he fell. Everyone gathered round the place where Asahel had collapsed and died, and stood still there. ²⁴ Meanwhile, Joab and Abishai continued to chase Abner. At dusk, as they approached the hill of Ammah that is located near Giah on the way to the Gibeon desert,

²⁵ the descendants of Benjamin rallied around Abner, forming a single military force. They took their stand on top of the hill. ²⁶ Then Abner called out to Joab, "Must the battle sword keep on devouring forever? Don't you realize that the end result is bitterness? How long will it take for you to order your army to stop pursuing their own relatives?"

²⁷ Joab answered, "As God lives, if you hadn't spoken up, by morning my army would have broken off their pursuit of their own relatives." ²⁸ So Joab sounded his battle trumpet, his entire army stopped pursuing Israel any longer, and they quit fighting. ²⁹ Abner and his army traveled through the Arabah by night, crossed the Jordan, and arrived at Mahanaim after marching all morning.

³⁰ Joab returned from his pursuit of Abner, and when he had mustered his entire army, nineteen of David's soldiers were missing besides Asahel. ³¹ Meanwhile, other soldiers of David had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin. ³² They retrieved Asahel's body and buried him in his father's tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night until daybreak and arrived back in Hebron.