The Murder of Ish-bosheth

1Then Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, heard that Abner had fallen in Hebron. And his hands were weakened, and all of Israel was troubled. 2Now the son of Saul had two men, leaders among robbers. The name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other was Rechab, sons of Rimmon, a Beerothite from the sons of Benjamin. For indeed, Beeroth, too, was reputed with Benjamin. 3And the Beerothites had fled into Gittaim. And they were strangers there, until that time.

4Now Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son with disabled feet. For he was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. And so, his nurse, taking him up, fled. And while she was hurrying, so that she might flee, he fell and was made lame. And he was called Mephibosheth.

5And so, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, arrived and entered the house of Ishbosheth, in the heat of the day. And he was sleeping on his bed at midday. And the doorkeeper of the house, who was cleaning the wheat, fell fast asleep. 6Then they entered the house secretly, taking the ears of grain. And Rechab and his brother Baanah stabbed him in the groin, and they fled away. 7For when they had entered the house, he was sleeping on his bed in a closed room. And striking him, they killed him. And taking his head, they departed by the way of the desert, walking throughout the night. 8And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David in Hebron. And they said to the king: “Behold, the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who was seeking your life. And so, the Lord has avenged my lord the king, this day, from Saul and from his offspring.”

The Execution of Rechab and Baanah

9But David, responding to Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, said to them: “As the Lord lives who has rescued my soul from all distress, 10the one who reported to me and said, ‘Saul is dead,’ who was thinking that he announced good news, I apprehended. And at Ziklag I killed him who ought to have been given a reward for the news. 11How much more so now, when impious men have put to death an innocent man in his own house, upon his bed, shall I not require his blood from your hand, and take you away from the earth?” 12And so, David commanded his servants, and they put them to death. And cutting off their hands and feet, they suspended them up over the pool in Hebron. But the head of Ishbosheth they took and buried in the sepulcher of Abner at Hebron.