16. Then each one grasped his opponent’s head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side, and they all fell down together. And so that place was named the Field of the Sides; it is in Gibeon.
17. The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s servants.
18. The three sons of Zeruiah were there—Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel, who was as fleet of foot as a gazelle in the open field,
19. set out after Abner, turning neither right nor left in his pursuit.
20. Abner turned around and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” He replied, “Yes.”
21. Abner said to him, “Turn right or left; seize one of the young men and take what you can strip from him.” But Asahel would not stop pursuing him.
22. Once more Abner said to Asahel: “Stop pursuing me! Why must I strike you to the ground? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?”
23. Still he refused to stop. So Abner struck him in the abdomen with the heel of his spear, and the weapon protruded from his back. He fell there and died on the spot. All who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, halted.
24. But Joab and Abishai continued the pursuit of Abner. The sun had gone down when they came to the hill of Ammah which lies east of the valley toward the wilderness near Geba.
25. Here the Benjaminites rallied around Abner, forming a single group, and made a stand on a hilltop.
26. Then Abner called to Joab and said: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not know that afterward there will be bitterness? How long before you tell the people to stop pursuing their brothers?”