2Sa 4 | EE | STEP | People told Saul’s son that Abner had died in Hebron. Then he became very afraid. And all the people in Israel were afraid.

2 Samuel 4

Two men kill Ishbosheth

1 People told Saul’s son that Abner had died in Hebron. Then he became very afraid. And all the people in Israel were afraid. 2 Saul’s son had two men, Baanah and Rechab, who were leaders of small groups of soldiers. Their father was Rimmon from Beeroth, of Benjamin’s tribe. At that time, people thought about Beeroth as a part of Benjamin’s land. 3 The people from Beeroth ran away to Gittaim. So Beeroth’s people still live there but they are like foreign people. ^{▼▼4:3 Saul’s son here was Ishbosheth.}

4 Saul’s son, Jonathan had a son with two bad feet. When he was 5 years old, the news from Jezreel about Saul and Jonathan reached them. His nurse lifted the boy into her arms and she ran away. But as she ran, he fell. And his feet became hurt. His name was Mephibosheth.

5 The sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, called Rechab and Baanah, left to go to Ishbosheth’s house. They arrived in the hot time of the day. And Ishbosheth was resting on his bed at midday. 6 They went inside the house and they were carrying some wheat. But they pushed knives into his stomach. Then Rechab and his brother ran away. Nobody caught them.

7 Ishbosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom when they went into his house. When they had killed him they cut off his head. They took it with them and they went through the Arabah. They travelled all night. 8 They brought Ishbosheth’s head to David in Hebron. They said to the king, ‘Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, who was always attacking you. Saul tried to kill you. Today the LORD paid him and his family for the bad things that they did to our lord, the king.’

9 David spoke to Rechab and his brother Baanah, Rimmon’s sons from Beeroth, ‘The LORD has saved me from all my troubles. And he is certainly alive. 10 When a man told me, “Saul is dead”, he thought that he was bringing me good news. But I took him and I caused my servants to kill him in Ziklag. That was the gift that I gave him for his news. 11 But you wicked men have killed a man who was not a bad man. And you killed him in his own house and on his own bed. So there is no reason why I should not cause you to die. You must pay for the evil thing that you have done. The earth will be a better place without you!’

12 So David told his young men that they must kill them. So they did kill them. They cut off their hands and their feet. They hung the dead bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took Ishbosheth’s head and they buried it next to Abner’s dead body in Hebron.