2 Samuel 4

New King James Version

Ishbosheth Is Murdered

4 When Saul’s^[a]son heard that Abner had died in Hebron,^(A)he^[b]lost heart, and all Israel was^(B)troubled.² Now Saul’s sonhadtwo menwho werecaptains of troops. The name of onewasBaanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. (For^(C)Beeroth also was^[c]partof Benjamin,³ because the Beerothites fled to^(D)Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.)

^4 (E)Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a sonwho waslame inhisfeet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came^(F)from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His namewas^(G)Mephibosheth.^[d]

⁵ Then the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the^(H)house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon.⁶ And they came there, all the way into the house,as thoughto get wheat, and they^[e]stabbed him^(I)in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.⁷ For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain.⁸ And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy,^(J)who sought your life; and theLordhas avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.”

⁹ But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “AstheLordlives,^(K)who has redeemed my life from all adversity,¹⁰ when^(L)someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one whothoughtI would give him a reward forhisnews.¹¹ How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now^(M)require his^[f]blood at your hand and^[g]remove you from the earth?”¹² So David^(N)commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hangedthemby the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and burieditin the^(O)tomb of Abner in Hebron.