20. Then Abner looked behind him and said, Are you Asahel? He answered, I am.
21. Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right or left, and seize one of the young men and take his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
22. And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then should I be able to face Joab your brother?
23. Asahel refused to turn aside; so Abner with the rear end of his spear smote him through the abdomen, and he fell and died where he fell. And all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still.
24. But Joab and Abishai [his brothers] pursued Abner; the sun was going down as they came to the hill of Ammah, before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
25. And the Benjamites gathered together behind Abner and became one troop and took their stand on the top of a hill.
26. Then Abner called to Joab, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that bitterness will be the result? How long will it be then before you bid the people to stop pursuing their brethren?
27. Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have stopped pursuing their brethren in the morning.