Passage

2 Samuel 2.18

Book: 2 Samuel · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"16. And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. 17. And the battle was very sore that day: and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David."

"18. And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe."

"19. And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20. Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Is it thou, Asahel? And he answered, It is I." (2 Samuel 2:16-20, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"16. They each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow’s side; so they fell down together: therefore that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim. 17. The battle was very severe that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before David’s servants."

"18. The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle."

"19. Asahel pursued Abner; and in going he didn’t turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. 20. Then Abner looked behind him, and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” He answered, “It is.”" (2 Samuel 2:16-20, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"16. And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow's side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called Helkathhazzurim, which is in Gibeon. ^{Helkathhazzurim: that is, The field of strong men} 17. And there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David."

"18. And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe. ^{of foot: Heb. of his feet} ^{as a wild: Heb. as one of the roes that is in the field}"

"19. And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ^{from: Heb. from after Abner} 20. Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am." (2 Samuel 2:16-20, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"16. And they lay hold, each on the head of his companion, and his sword [is] in the side of his companion, and they fall together, and [one] calleth that place Helkath-Hazzurim, which [is] in Gibeon, 17. and the battle is very hard on that day, and Abner is smitten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David."

"18. And there are there three sons of Zeruiah, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, and Asahel [is] light on his feet, as one of the roes which [are] in the field,"

"19. And Asahel pursueth after Abner, and hath not turned aside to go to the right or to the left, from after Abner. 20. And Abner looketh behind him, and saith, 'Art thou he, Asahel?' and he saith, 'I [am].'" (2 Samuel 2:16-20, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Bears Mauling Youth Objection Defeater

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.