19. And Asahel pursued Abner, and he did not turn aside to the right, nor to the left, to cease in the pursuit of Abner.
20. And so, Abner looked behind his back, and he said, "Are you not Asahel?" And he responded, "I am."
21. And Abner said to him, "Go to the right, or to the left, and apprehend one of the youths, and take his spoils for yourself." But Asahel was not willing to cease from pursuing him closely.
22. And again, Abner said to Asahel: "Withdraw, and do not choose to follow me. Otherwise, I will be compelled to stab you to the ground, and I will not be able to lift up my face before your brother, Joab."
23. But he disdained to heed him, and he was not willing to turn aside. Therefore, turning, Abner struck him with his spear in the groin, and he pierced him through, and he died in the same place. And all those who would pass by the place, in which Asahel had fallen and died, would stand still.
24. Now while Joab and Abishai were pursuing Abner as he fled, the sun set. And they went as far as the Hill of the Aqueduct, which is opposite the valley on the way of the desert in Gibeon.
25. And the sons of Benjamin gathered themselves to Abner. And being joined in one battle line, they stood at the summit of a hill.
26. And Abner cried out to Joab, and he said: "Will your sword rage unto utter destruction? Are you ignorant that it is perilous to act in desperation? How long will you not tell the people to cease from the pursuit of their brothers?"
27. And Joab said: "As the Lord lives, if you had spoken in the morning, the people would have withdrawn from pursuing their brothers."
28. Therefore, Joab sounded the trumpet, and the entire army stood still, and they did not pursue after Israel any more, and they did not engage in conflict.
29. Then Abner and his men went away, all that night, through the plains. And they crossed the Jordan, and having roamed throughout all of Beth-horon, they arrived in the camp.
30. But Joab, returning after he had released Abner, gathered together all the people. And of David's youths, they were missing nineteen men, aside from Asahel.
31. But of Benjamin and of the men who were with Abner, the servants of David had struck three hundred and sixty, who also died.
32. And they took Asahel, and they buried him in the sepulcher of his father at Bethlehem. And Joab, and the men who were with him, walked throughout the night, and they arrived in Hebron at the very break of day.