26 Abner called out to Joab, ‘Must the sword devour for ever? Don’t you realise that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?’

27 Joab answered, ‘As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued pursuing them until morning.’

28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight any more.

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