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?”
27. Joab replied, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, it would be morning before the people would be stopped from pursuing their brothers.”
28. Joab then sounded the horn, and all the people came to a halt, pursuing Israel no farther and fighting no more.
29. Abner and his men marched all night long through the Arabah, crossed the Jordan, marched all through the morning, and came to Mahanaim.