1 Now when 1So some ancient mss; M.T. heIsh-bosheth, Saul’s son, heard that A2 Sam 3:27Abner had died in Hebron, 2Lit his hands droppedBEzra 4:4he lost courage, and all Israel was disturbed. 2 Saul’s son had two men who were commanders of bands: the name of the one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for AJosh 9:17Beeroth is also considered BJosh 18:25part of Benjamin, 3 and the Beerothites fled to ANeh 11:33Gittaim and have been aliens there until this day).

4 Now A2 Sam 9:3, 6Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son crippled in his feet. He was five years old when the B1 Sam 31:1-4report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened that in her hurry to flee, he fell and became lame. And his name was 1I.e. Merib-baalC1 Chr 8:34; 9:40Mephibosheth.

5 So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, departed and came to the house of A2 Sam 2:8Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day while he was taking his midday rest. 6 1Lit And hereThey came to the middle of the house as 2Lit takers of wheatif to get wheat, and A2 Sam 2:23they struck him in the belly; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 Now when they came into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him and beheaded him. And they took his head and 1Lit wentA2 Sam 2:29traveled by way of the Arabah all night. 8 Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth A1 Sam 24:4; 25:29the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus the Loʀᴅ has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his 1Lit seeddescendants.”

9 David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the Loʀᴅ lives, AGen 48:16; 1 Kin 1:29; Ps 31:7who has redeemed my life from all distress, 10 A2 Sam 1:2, 4, 15when one told me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and 1Lit he was as a bearer of good news in his own eyesthought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 11  “How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now AGen 9:5; Ps 9:12require his blood from your hand and 1Lit burndestroy you from the earth?” 12 Then A2 Sam 1:15David commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth B2 Sam 3:32and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.