2 Kings 2:23
But he refused to hearken to him, and would not turn aside: wherefore Abner struck him with his spear with a back stroke in the groin, and thrust him through, and he died upon the spot: and all that came to the place where Asael fell down and died stood still.
Open 2 Kings 2:23 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Qui audire contempsit, et noluit declinare : percussit ergo eum Abner aversa hasta in inguine, et transfodit, et mortuus est in eodem loco : omnesque qui transibant per locum illum, in quo ceciderat Asaël et mortuus erat, subsistebant.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ποῦ ἐστιν ταῦτα; ἐπίστρεφε πρὸς Ἰωὰβ τὸν ἀδελφόν σου· καὶ οὐκ ἐβούλετο τοῦ ἀποστῆναι. καὶ τύπτει αὐτὸν Ἀβεννὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀπίσω τοῦ δόρατος ἐπὶ τὴν ψόαν, καὶ διεξῆλθεν τὸ δόρυ ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ, καὶ πίπτει ἐκεῖ καὶ ἀποθνήσκει ὑποκάτω αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐγένετο πᾶς ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἕως τοῦ τόπου οὗ ἔπεσεν ἐκεῖ Ἀσαὴλ καὶ ἀπέθανεν, καὶ ὑφίστατο.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיְמָאֵ֣ן לָס֗וּר וַיַּכֵּ֣הוּ אַבְנֵר֩ בְּאַחֲרֵ֨י הַחֲנִ֜ית אֶל הַחֹ֗מֶשׁ וַתֵּצֵ֤א הַֽחֲנִית֙ מֵאַחֲרָ֔יו וַיִּפָּל שָׁ֖ם וַיָּ֣מָת תחתו וַיְהִ֡י כָּל הַבָּ֣א אֶֽל הַמָּקוֹם֩ אֲשֶׁר נָ֨פַל שָׁ֧ם עֲשָׂהאֵ֛ל וַיָּמֹ֖ת וַֽיַּעֲמֹֽדוּ
Haydock's commentary
Stroke, (aversa.) Hebrew, "with the hinder end of the spear, under the fifth rib." Septuagint, "in the loin."
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Gregory the Great The Book of Pastoral Rule, How the meek and the passionate are to be admonished
But when the passionate so attack others that they cannot be altogether shunned, they should be smitten, not with open rebuke, but sparingly with a certain respectful cautiousness. And this we shall shew better if we bring forward what was done by Abner. For, when Asahel attacked him with the violence of inconsiderate haste, it is written, Abner spake unto Asahel, saying. Turn thee aside from following me, lest I be driven to smite thee to the ground. Howbeit he scorned to listen, and refused to turn aside. Whereupon Abner smote him with the hinder end of the spear in the groin, and thrust him through, and he died ( 2 Sam. ii. 22, 23 ). For of whom did Asahel present a type but of those whom fury violently seizes and carries headlong? And such, in this same attack of fury, are to be shunned cautiously in proportion as they are madly hurried on. …