2 Samuel 3:32-39 ▼

32 Thus they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept.

33 The king chanted a [lament] for Abner and said, |Should Abner die as a fool dies?

34 |Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put in fetters; As one falls before the wicked, you have fallen.| And all the people wept again over him.

35 Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was still day; but David vowed, saying, |May God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down.|

36 Now all the people took note [of it], and it pleased them, just as everything the king did pleased all the people.

37 So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been [the will] of the king to put Abner the son of Ner to death.

38 Then the king said to his servants, |Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?

39 |I am weak today, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too difficult for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil.|