II Samuel

When [Ish-bosheth] son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heartahe lost heart Lit. “his hands weakened”; and so frequently. and all Israel was alarmed.

The son of Saul [had] two company commanders, one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite—Benjaminites, since Beeroth too was considered part of Benjamin.

The Beerothites had fled to Gittaim,bGittaim Gittaim was likewise in Benjamin; cf. Neh. 11.31ff. where they have sojourned to this day.

(Jonathan son of Saul had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse picked him up and fled; but as she was fleeing in haste, he fell and was lamed. His name was Mephibosheth.cMephibosheth The original form of the name, Merib-baal, is preserved in 1 Chron. 8.34; 9.40. Cf. note at 2.8 on Ish-bosheth. This subject is resumed in chapter 9.)

Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, started out, and they reached the home of Ish-bosheth at the heat of the day, when he was taking his midday rest.

So they went inside the house, as though fetching wheat, and struck him in the belly.dSo they went inside … in the belly Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Septuagint reads, “And behold, the woman who kept the door of the house was cleaning wheat. She became drowsy and fell asleep.” Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped by,

and entered the house while he was asleep on his bed in his bedchamber; and they stabbed him to death. They cut off his head and took his head and made their way all night through the Arabah.

They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron. “Here,” they said to the king, “is the head of your enemy, Ish-bosheth son of Saul, who sought your life. This day GOD has avenged my lord the king upon Saul and his offspring.”

But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As GOD lives, who has rescued me from every trouble:

The one who told me in Ziklag that Saul was dead thought he was bringing good news. But instead of rewarding him for the news, I seized and killed him.

How much more, then, when wicked men have killed an innocent man in bed in his own house! I will certainly avenge his blood on you, and I will rid the earth of you.”

David gave orders to the young men, who killed them; they cut off their hands and feet and hung them up by the pool in Hebron. And they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner at Hebron.