When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.
Abner and his men went all night through the Arabah [plain], crossed the Jordan, and went through the whole Bithron [district of ravines] and came to Mahanaim.
Of the Benjamites, the kindred of [King] Saul, 3,000–hitherto the majority of them had kept their allegiance [to Saul] and the charge of the house of Saul;