36 All the troops took notice of this and were pleased by it. Indeed, everything that the king did pleased them.
37 So on that day all the troops and all Israel knew that it wasn’t the king’s idea to kill Abner, Ner’s son.
38 The king told his soldiers, "Don’t you know that a prince and a great man in Israel has fallen today?
39 And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak. These men, Zeruiah’s sons, are too strong for me. May the Lord repay the one who does evil according to the evil they did!"