2 Samuel

Chapter 4

1 When Saul’s son learned that Abner had died in Hebron, he felt weak, and all the Israelites were upset.

2 Saul’s son had two men who led groups: one was named Baanah and the other Rechab. They were sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, which was part of the Benjamin tribe.

3 The people from Beeroth ran away to Gittaim and have lived there until now.

4 Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who could not walk. He was five years old when news of Saul and Jonathan’s deaths came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and ran away. While she hurriedly fled, he fell and hurt his feet. His name was Mephibosheth.

5 Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ishbosheth’s house during the hottest part of the day while he was resting on his bed.

6 They arrived at the center of the house pretending to collect wheat and then they stabbed him below the fifth rib, and Rechab with his brother Baanah got away.

7 When they entered the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom. They hit him, killed him, and cut off his head. Then they took his head and escaped across the fields all night.

8 They brought Ishbosheth’s head to David in Hebron and told the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, your enemy who wanted to kill you. God has taken revenge for you today against Saul and his family.”

9 David replied to Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As God lives, who has saved me from all trouble,

10 Someone told me, ‘Saul is dead.’ He thought he was bringing good news, so I grabbed him and killed him in Ziklag because he expected a reward for his news.

11 How much worse it is when evil men kill a good person in his own home on his bed? Will I not demand you pay for his death and remove you from the world?

12 David ordered his men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hung them by the pool in Hebron. However, they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.