2 Samuel 4

The Murder of Ish-Bosheth

1Saul’s son, Ish-Bosheth, heard that Abner had died in Hebron. His heart sank. The whole country was shaken.

2-3Ish-Bosheth had two men who were captains of raiding bands—one was named Baanah, the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, a Benjaminite. (The people of Beeroth had been assigned to Benjamin ever since they escaped to Gittaim. They still live there as resident aliens.)

4It so happened that Saul’s son, Jonathan, had a son who was maimed in both feet. When he was five years old, the report on Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and ran, but in her hurry to get away she fell, and the boy was maimed. His name was Mephibosheth.

5-7One day Baanah and Recab, the two sons of Rimmon, headed out for the house of Ish-Bosheth. They arrived at the hottest time of the day, just as he was taking his afternoon nap. They entered the house on a ruse, pretending official business. The maid guarding the bedroom had fallen asleep, so Recab and Baanah slipped by her and entered the room where Ish-Bosheth was asleep on his bed. They killed him and then cut off his head, carrying it off as a trophy. They traveled all night long, taking the route through the Arabah Valley.

8They presented the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, telling the king, “Here’s the head of Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s son, your enemy. He was out to kill you, but God has given vengeance to my master, the king—vengeance this very day on Saul and his children!”

9-11David answered the brothers Recab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as God lives—the One who got me out of every trouble I’ve ever been in—when the messenger told me, ‘Good news! Saul is dead!’ supposing I’d be delighted, I arrested him and killed him on the spot in Ziklag. That’s what he got for his so-called good news! And now you show up—evil men who killed an innocent man in cold blood, a man asleep in his own house! Don’t think I won’t find you guilty of murder and rid the country of you!”

12David then issued orders to his soldiers. They killed the two—chopped off their hands and feet, and hung the corpses at the pool in Hebron. But Ish-Bosheth’s head they took and buried in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

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2 Samuel 4

Assassination of Ish-bosheth

1Now when Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage sank, and all the Israelites were disturbed.

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

3though the Beerothites had fled to Gittaim and live there as outsiders to this day).

4(Saul’s son Jonathan had a son whose legs were crippled. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse picked him up and fled. It came about, as she was hurrying to flee, that he fell and was crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

5Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came to the house of Ish-bosheth at the heat of the day, as he was taking his midday nap.

6When they came within the house, as though to get wheat, they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.

7When they had gotten within the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, they stabbed him and killed him, then beheaded him and took his head, and traveled by the way of the Arabah all night.

8Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, your enemy, who sought your life. Today Adonai has avenged my lord the king of Saul and his offspring.”

9Then David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, saying to them, “As Adonai lives, who redeemed my soul out of all distress,

10when someone informed me saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead!’ thinking he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, instead of rewarding him for his news.

11How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house and on his bed! Should I not now require his blood from your hands and rid the earth of you?”

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

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