Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying: "Come, and let us strike a pact together in the villages, on the plain of Ono." But they were thinking that they would do me harm.
And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him alone to the middle of the gate, so that he might speak to him, but with deceit. And there, he stabbed him in the groin, and he died, in revenge for the blood of Asahel, his brother.
Therefore, I sent messengers to them, saying: "I am doing a great work, and I cannot descend, lest perhaps it may be neglected when I go out and descend to you."
My friends and my neighbors have drawn near and stood against me. And those who were next to me stood far apart. And those who sought my soul used violence.
Again, I was contemplating all the labors of men. And I took notice that their endeavors are open to the envy of their neighbor. And so, in this, too, there is emptiness and superfluous anxiety.
Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, rose up, and the ten men who were with him, and they struck down Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and they killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
And they come to you, as if the people were entering, and my people sit before you. And they listen to your words, but they do not do them. For they turn them into a song for their mouth, but their heart pursues their own avarice.