2 Samuel 2:26
Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren? Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?
The plea against letting the sword devour forever was uttered amid the internal troubles and strife that attended the establishment of David's reign. At that time David was reigning at Hebron, yet he did not receive the kingdom peaceably, because Saul's son and his army sought to hold the kingdom by force. The utterance belongs to the account in 2 Samuel 2-4 of the causes that made David king over all Israel, namely the lingering warfare between Judah and Israel in which David proved victorious.