2 Samuel 4

₁When they told Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, that Abner had died in Hebron, he was so afraid that he could not do anything. All the Israelites were afraid. ₂Ish-Bosheth had 2 officers who had been leaders of the men who attacked the towns and took the things in the towns. Their names were Baanah and Rekab. They were sons of Rimmon, a man from the town of Beeroth in the land of Benjamin. ₃Long before that the people of Beeroth had fled to the town of Gittaim and today they still live there as strangers. ₄Saul's son Jonathan had a son. His name was Mephibosheth, and his legs were crippled. When he was 5 years old, people told them that Saul and Jonathan had been killed near Jezreel. The woman who looked after Mephibosheth took him and she ran away, but while she was running away, she dropped him and he fell and became crippled in his legs.

₅Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from the town Beeroth, came into the house of Ish-Bosheth at the hottest time of day in the afternoon while he was sleeping. ₆They said they wanted to get wheat and they stabbed Ish-Bosheth in his stomach and ran away. ₇Ish-Bosheth was on his bed in his bedroom when they came into the house and killed him. They cut off his head and took it with them. They walked all night on the way through Arabah. ₈They gave Ish-Bosheth's head to David in Hebron and they said to the king: ‘Here is the head of your enemy Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, who wanted to kill you. Today the Lord has punished Saul and his descendants for what they did to you, Your_Majesty.’

₉David answered the 2 brothers, Rekab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon from the town of Beeroth and he said to them: ‘The Lord has saved my life from every danger, and as sure as He lives ₁₀when someone told me in Ziklag that Saul was dead, he thought that he had brought me good news. But I grabbed him and I killed him. That is what I gave him for his news. ₁₁And when bad people like you kill an innocent man in his house on his bed, what must I do? I must punish you because you have killed him. I must throw you off the earth.’

₁₂David told some young men to kill the 2 brothers. The young men did it and they cut off their hands and feet. They hung the bodies of the 2 brothers at the pool in Hebron. They took the head of Ish-Bosheth and they buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.