4:1 And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his
hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
4:2 And Saul's son had two men [that were] captains of bands:
the name of the one [was] Baanah, and the name of the other
Rechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of
Benjamin: (For Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin:
4:3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and have been
sojourners there until this day.)
4:4 And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son [that was] lame of [his]
feet: he was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and
Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled:
and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell,
and became lame. And his name [was] Mephibosheth.
4:5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah,
went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of
Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
4:6 And they came thither into the midst of the house, [as
though] they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under
the fifth [rib]: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
4:7 For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his
bed-chamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded
him, and took his head, and went away through the plain all
night.
4:8 And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David to Hebron,
and said to the king, Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of
Saul thy enemy, who sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged
my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed.
4:9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons
of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, [As] the LORD
liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
4:10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, (thinking
to have brought good tidings,) I took hold of him, and slew him
in Ziklag, who [thought] that I would have given him a reward
for his tidings:
4:11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous
person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now
require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the
earth?
4:12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and
cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged [them] over the
pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and
buried [it] in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron.
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