5. he sent some men there with the message: “May the Lord bless you for showing your loyalty to your king by burying him.
6. And now may the Lord be kind and faithful to you. I too will treat you well because of what you have done.
7. Be strong and brave! Saul your king is dead, and the people of Judah have anointed me as their king.”
8. The commander of Saul's army, Abner son of Ner, had fled with Saul's son Ishbosheth across the Jordan to Mahanaim.
9. There Abner made Ishbosheth king of the territories of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin, and indeed over all Israel.
10. He was forty years old when he was made king of Israel, and he ruled for two years.But the tribe of Judah was loyal to David,
11. and he ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years.