2 Samuel 4

And the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, and his hands dropped, and all of Israel was terrified.

Now two men, commanders of troops, were {to} the son of Saul. The name of the one {was} Baanah, and the name of the second {was} Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, from the sons of Benjamin, for Beeroth is also reckoned to Benjamin.

(But the Beerothites had fled to Gittaim, and they have been sojourning there to this day.) \*

Now to Jonathan, the son of Saul, {was} a son, lame of feet. He was a son of five years when the report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. And his nurse picked him up and fled. And it happened, when she hurried to flee, that he fell and became lame. And his name {was} Mephibosheth. \*

And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and they came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish Bosheth, and he was lying {on} the bed of noon.

And behold, they came to the midst of the house, takers of wheat, and they struck him in the stomach. And Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. \*

For they entered the house, and he was lying on his bed in the chamber of his bed, and they struck him, and they killed him, and they removed his head. And they took his head, and they walked the way of the Arabah all of the night. \*

And they brought the head of Ish Bosheth to David {at} Hebron, and they said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish Bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. Now God has given to my lord the king vengeance this day against Saul and against his seed.” \*

But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, “The life of God, who rescued my life from every distress,

that the one declaring to me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and in his eyes he was like a bringer of {good} news, that I seized him, and I killed him at Ziklag, which {was} me giving him a reward for good news. \*

How much more, when wicked men have murdered a righteous man in his house on his bed! And now, shall I not seek his blood from your hand and consume you from the earth?” \*

And David commanded the young men, and they killed them, and they cut off their hands and their feet, and they hung {them} beside the pool in Hebron. But the head of Ish Bosheth, they took and buried in the grave of Abner in Hebron. \*