²⁶ Abner called out to Joab, “Do we have to go on fighting forever? Can't you see that in the end there will be nothing but bitterness? We are your relatives. How long will it be before you order your men to stop chasing us?”

²⁷ “I swear by the living God,” Joab answered, “that if you had not spoken, my men would have kept on chasing you until tomorrow morning.” ²⁸ Then Joab blew the trumpet as a signal for his men to stop pursuing the Israelites; and so the fighting stopped.