2 Samuel 4

CHAPTER 4

Ish-bosheth Put to Death

¹Then ¹Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son heard that ^aAbner had died in Hebron. And ^2bhe lost courage, and all Israel was dismayed.

²Now Saul’s son had two men who were commanders of bands: the name of the one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for ^aBeeroth is also considered ^bpart of Benjamin,

³and the Beerothites fled to ^aGittaim and have been sojourners there until this day).

⁴Now ^aJonathan, Saul’s son, had a son crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the ^breport of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened that in her hurry to flee, he fell and became lame. And his name was ^1cMephibosheth.

⁵So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went forth and came to the house of ^aIsh-bosheth in the heat of the day while he was taking his midday rest.

⁶¹They came to the middle of the house as ²if to get wheat, and ^athey struck him in the belly; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.

⁷Thus they came into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. And they took his head and ^awent on the way leading to the Arabah all night.

⁸Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth ^athe son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus Yahweh has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his seed.”

⁹And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As Yahweh lives, ^awho has redeemed my life from all distress,

^10awhen one told me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and ¹thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.

¹¹“How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now ^arequire his blood from your hand and purge you from the earth?”

¹²Then ^aDavid commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth ^band buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.