2 Samuel 3:19-23

3:19 Then Abner spoke privately ¹  with the Benjaminites. Abner also went to Hebron to inform David privately ²  of all that Israel and the entire house of Benjamin had agreed to. ³  3:20 When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him. 3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement ⁴  with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace.

Abner Is Killed

3:22 Now David’s soldiers ⁵  and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David ⁶  had sent him away and he had left in peace. 3:23 When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!”

[3:19]  ¹ tn Heb “into the ears of.”

[3:19]  ² tn Heb “also Abner went to speak into the ears of David in Hebron.”

[3:19]  ³ tn Heb “all which was good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of all the house of Benjamin.”

[3:21]  ⁴ tn After the cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[3:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “And look, the servants of David.”

[3:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.