2 Samuel 4

1 When Saul’s son Ishbosheth heard that Abner had been killed at Hebron, [he realized that he might also be killed]. He became discouraged, and all the Israeli people (trembled/became afraid).

And the son of Saul hears that Abner [is] dead in Hebron, and his hands are feeble, and all of Israel has been troubled.

2 Ishbosheth had two officers who were leaders of groups that raided other villages. [They were brothers; ] their names were Baanah and Rechab, sons of Rimmon from Beeroth [town] in the tribe of Benjamin. Beeroth is in the area that had [been assigned to] the tribe of Benjamin.

And two men, heads of troops, have been [to] the son of Saul, the name of the first [is] Baanah, and the name of the second Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for Beeroth is also reckoned to Benjamin,

3 But the people of Beeroth had fled to Gittaim [town], and they still live there.

and the Beerothites flee to Gittaim, and are sojourners there to this day.

4 Saul’s son Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. When Mephibosheth was five years old, Saul and Jonathan died in the battle. When people brought that news from Jezreel, Mephibosheth’s nursemaid picked him up and ran away. She ran very fast, with the result that she dropped him, and his legs became crippled.

And to Jonathan son of Saul [is] a son—lame; he was a son of five years at the coming in of the rumor of [the death of] Saul and Jonathan, out of Jezreel, and his nurse lifts him up, and flees, and it comes to pass in her hastening to flee, that he falls, and becomes lame, and his name [is] Mephibosheth.

5 One day, Rechab and Baanah left [their home] to go to Ishbosheth’s house. They arrived there about noontime, when Ishbosheth was taking his midday nap.

And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, go, and come in at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth, and he is lying down—the lying down of noon;

6 The woman who was the doorkeeper was sifting wheat. While doing that, she became sleepy, and fell asleep. So Rechab and his brother Baanah were able to creep in quietly.

and they have come there, to the midst of the house, taking wheat, and they strike him to the fifth [rib], and Rechab and his brother Baanah have escaped;

7 They entered Ishbosheth’s bedroom, where he was sleeping. They killed him [with their swords] and cut off his head. They carried his head and walked all night through the Jordan [River] Valley.

indeed, they come into the house, and he is lying on his bed, in the inner part of his bed-chamber, and they strike him, and put him to death, and turn his head aside, and they take his head, and go the way of the plain all the night,

8 They took the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron. They said to him, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul, who tried to kill you. Your majesty, today Yahweh has allowed you to get revenge on Saul and his descendants!”

and bring in the head of Ish-Bosheth to David in Hebron, and say to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; and YHWH gives vengeance to my lord the king this day, of Saul and of his seed.”

9 But David replied to them, “Yahweh is the one who has rescued me from all my troubles. And just as surely as Yahweh lives, what I am now saying is also true.

And David answers Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and says to them, “YHWH lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

10 When a messenger came to Ziklag and told me ‘Saul is dead!’ and he thought that the news that he was bringing to me was good news, I seized him and [commanded one of my soldiers to] kill him. That was the reward I gave to him for his news!

when one is declaring to me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, and he was as a bearer of tidings in his own eyes, then I take hold on him, and slay him in Ziklag, instead of my giving to him [for] the tidings.

11 So because you two evil men murdered a man who is (innocent/has done nothing wrong) when he was sleeping on his bed in his own house, I will do something worse to you. I will surely [RHQ] get revenge on you two for murdering [MTY] him, and (wipe you/cause you to disappear) from the earth!”

Also—when wicked men have slain the righteous man in his own house, on his bed; and now, do I not require his blood from your hand, and have taken you away from the earth?”

12 Then, following David’s orders, his soldiers killed the two men, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hung their bodies (OR, their hands and feet) [on a pole] near the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it [respectfully] in the tomb of Abner, there at Hebron.

And David commands the young men, and they slay them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hang [them] over the pool in Hebron, and they have taken the head of Ish-Bosheth, and bury [it] in the burying-place of Abner in Hebron.