20. When Abner, along with twenty others, reached David at Hebron, David threw a celebration for Abner and his men.
21. Then Abner said to David, "Please let me get going so I can assemble all Israel for my master the king. Then they can make a covenant with you, and you will rule over everything your heart desires." At that, David sent Abner off in peace.
22. Right then, David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid, bringing a great deal of loot with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron because David had sent him off in peace.
23. When Joab and all the troops with him returned, Joab was told that Abner, Ner’s son, had come to the king and that David had sent him off in peace.
24. Joab went to the king and asked, "What have you done? Abner came to you here! Why did you send him off? Now he’s gotten away!
25. Don’t you know the evil ways of Abner, Ner’s son? He came to trick you, to find out where you come and go, and to learn everything you do!"
26. Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well at Sirah, but David didn’t know anything of this.
27. When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside next to the gate to speak with him in private. But instead Joab stabbed Abner in the stomach, and he died for shedding the blood of Asahel, Joab’s brother.
28. When David heard about this later, he said, "I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the shedding of the blood of Abner, Ner’s son.
29. May it fall upon the head of Joab and his entire family tree! May Joab’s family never be without someone with a discharge or a skin disease, someone who uses a crutch, someone who dies by the sword, or someone who is hungry!"
30. So that is how Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner, because he killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.
31. Then David ordered Joab and all the troops who were with him, "Tear your clothes and put on funeral clothes! Mourn for Abner!" King David himself walked behind the body.
32. They buried Abner in Hebron. The king wept loudly at Abner’s grave. All the troops cried too.