2 Samuel 4:1–5:13

Ish-bosheth is killed

4:1 When Ish-bosheth1 the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened,2 and all Israel was afraid. 4:2 Now Saul’s son3 had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin, 4:3 for the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have remained there as resident foreigners until the present time.)4

4:4 Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but in her haste to get away, he fell and was injured.5 Mephibosheth was his name.

4:5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite—Recab and Baanah—went at the hottest part of the day to the home of Ish-bosheth, as he was enjoying his midday rest. 4:6 They6 entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat and mortally wounded him7 in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.

4:7 They had entered8 the house while Ish-bosheth9 was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him10 and then cut off his head.11 Taking his head,12 they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night. 4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against13 Saul and his descendants!”

4:9 David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity, 4:10 when someone told me that Saul was dead—even though he thought he was bringing good news14—I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him! 4:11 Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept15 in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove16 you from the earth?”

4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them17 near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth18 and buried it in the tomb of Abner19 in Hebron.20

David Is Anointed King Over Israel

5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, “Look, we are your very flesh and blood!1 5:2 In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel.2 The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.’ ”

5:3 When all the leaders3 of Israel came to the king at Hebron, King David made an agreement with them4 in Hebron before the Lord. They designated5 David as king over Israel. 5:4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign and he reigned for forty years. 5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem6 he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

David Occupies Jerusalem

5:6 Then the king and his men advanced to Jerusalem7 against the Jebusites who lived in the land. The Jebusites8 said to David, “You cannot invade this place! Even the blind and the lame will turn you back, saying, ‘David cannot invade this place!’ ”

5:7 But David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the city of David). 5:8 David said on that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must approach the ‘lame’ and the ‘blind’ who are David’s enemies9 by going through the water tunnel.”10 For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame cannot enter the palace.”11

5:9 So David lived in the fortress and called it the City of David. David built all around it, from the terrace inwards. 5:10 David’s power grew steadily, for the Lord God12 who commands armies13 was with him.14

5:11 King Hiram of Tyre15 sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace16 for David. 5:12 David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had elevated his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. 5:13 David married more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he arrived from Hebron. Even more sons and daughters were born to David.

Read more Share

1	tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSam a and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”
2	tn Heb “his hands went slack.”
3	tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.
4	tn Heb “until this day.”
5	tn Heb “and was lame.”
6	tc For the MT’s וְהֵנָּה (véhennah, “and they,” feminine) read וְהִנֵּה (véhinneh, “and behold”). See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Targum.
7	tn Heb “and they struck him down.”
8	tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.
9	tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10	tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.
11	tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.
12	tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”
13	tn Heb “from.”
14	tn Heb “and he was like a bearer of good news in his eyes.”
15	tn Heb “on his bed.”
16	tn See HALOT 146 s.v. II בער. Some derive the verb from a homonym meaning “to burn; to consume.”
17	tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”
18	tc 4QSam a mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.
19	tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.
20	tc Some mss of the LXX lack the phrase “in Hebron.”
1	tn Heb “look we are your bone and your flesh.”
2	tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”
3	tn Heb “elders.”
4	tn Heb “and the king, David, cut for them a covenant.”
5	tn Heb “anointed.”
6	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
7	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8	tn The Hebrew text has “he” rather than “the Jebusites.” The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In the Syriac Peshitta and some mss of the Targum the verb is plural rather than singular.
9	tc There is some confusion among the witnesses concerning this word. The Kethib is the Qal perfect 3cp שָׂנְאוּ (sané’u, “they hated”), referring to the Jebusites’ attitude toward David. The Qere is the Qal passive participle construct plural שְׂנֻאֵי (sénu’e, “hated”), referring to David’s attitude toward the Jebusites. 4QSam a has the Qal perfect 3rd person feminine singular שָׂנְאָה (sané’ah, “hated”), the subject of which would be “the soul of David.” The difference is minor and the translation adopted above works for either the Kethib or the Qere.
10	tn The meaning of the Hebrew term has been debated. For a survey of various views, see P. K. McCarter, II Samuel (AB), 139–40. sn If a water tunnel is in view here, it is probably the so-called Warren’s Shaft that extends up from Hezekiah’s tunnel. It would have provided a means for surprise attack against the occupants of the city of David. The LXX seems not to understand the reference here, translating “by the water shaft” as “with a small knife.”
11	tn Heb “the house.” TEV takes this as a reference to the temple (“the Lord’s house”).
12	tc 4QSam a and the LXX lack the word “God,” probably due to harmonization with the more common biblical phrase “the Lord of hosts.”
13	tn Traditionally, “the Lord God of hosts” (KJV, NASB); NIV, NLT “the Lord God Almighty”; CEV “the Lord (+ God NCV) All-Powerful.”
14	tn The translation assumes that the disjunctive clause is circumstantial-causal, giving the reason for David’s success.
15	map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
16	tn Heb “a house.”

A service of Logos Bible Software