5. So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead and said to them, “The Lord bless you. You have shown loyalty to your master Saul by burying him.
6. May the Lord now be loyal and true to you. I will also treat you well because you have done this.
7. Now be strong and brave. Saul your master is dead, and the people of Judah have appointed me their king.”
8. Abner son of Ner was the commander of Saul’s army. Abner took Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth to Mahanaim
9. and made him king of Gilead, Ashuri, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel.
10. Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he ruled two years. But the people of Judah followed David.
11. David was king in Hebron for seven years and six months.
12. Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon.
13. Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men also went there and met Abner and Ish-Bosheth’s men at the pool of Gibeon. Abner’s group sat on one side of the pool; Joab’s group sat on the other.
14. Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men have a contest here.”Joab said, “Yes, let them have a contest.”
15. Then the men got up and were counted—twelve from the people of Benjamin for Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s men.
16. Each man grabbed the one opposite him by the head and stabbed him in the side with a knife. So the men fell down together. For that reason, that place in Gibeon is called the Field of Knives.
17. That day there was a terrible battle, and David’s men defeated Abner and the Israelites.
18. Zeruiah’s three sons, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, were there. Now Asahel was a fast runner, as fast as a deer in the field.