2 Samuel 4:1-12
4 And Ishbaal the son of Saul heard that Abner had come to his death in Hebron, and he lost heart, and all Israel were in consternation.
2 And there were two men whom Ishbaal the son of Saul had as captains of raiders, one named Baʽanah and the other named Recab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite (of the sons of Benjamin; Beeroth too is counted as belonging to Benjamin,
3 and the Beerothites have fled away to Gittaim and are living there as immigrants to this day).
4 And Jonathan the son of Saul had a crippled son: he was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreʽel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and with her haste to flee he fell and was lamed; and his name was Meribaal.
5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Recab and Baʽanah, went and entered Ishbaal’s house at the hottest part of the day, while he was lying down for his noon rest:
6 the woman who had charge of the door of the house was cleaning wheat, and dozed away and went to sleep, and Recab and his brother Baʽanah slipped through
7 and entered the house while he was lying on his bed in his sleeping-room. And they struck him dead, and cut off his head, and took it and went along the Rift Valley, walking all night;
8 and they brought Ishbaal’s head to David at Hebron, and said to the king “Here is the head of Ishbaal, the son of your enemy Saul, who hunted for your life: Jehovah has given your majesty vengeance this day on Saul and his offspring.”
9 And David answered Recab and his brother Baʽanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “By Jehovah, who has redeemed my soul out of every distress,
10 * when a man told me ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing good news, I took him and killed him in Siklag to give him his fee.
11 Shall I not all the more, now that villains have killed an honest man in his own house on his bed, call you to account for his blood and rout you out of the earth?”
12 * And David gave order to his men, and they killed them and cut off their arms and legs, and hung them up by the reservoir in Hebron; and they took Ishbaal’s head and buried it in the grave of Abner the son of Ner.
Footnotes
^ 4:10 Unc.; or when I ought to have given him a fee.
^ 4:12 Var. in Abner’s grave in Hebron
