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2 Samuel

Ish‑Bosheth Assassinated

4
Chapter 4
1 And the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, and his hands grew weak, and all Israel was terrified. 2 And two men, rulers of the gdudim, were sons of Saul—the one named Baanah and the second named Rekab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth is also accounted to Benjamin). 3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and they were there as strangers until this day. 4 And to Jonathan son of Saul was a son of struck feet, five years old, when the news of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. And his nurse took him up and fled, and it happened in the haste to flee that he fell and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. 5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerite, Rekab and Baanah, went and came at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, and he was lying down at the noontime lying-down. 6 And behold, they came as far as the midst of the house as takers of wheat and struck him in the fifth rib; and Rekab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 And they came to the house, and he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, and they struck him and killed him and cut off his head. And they took his head and went the way of the Arabah all night. 8 And they came with the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, "Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth, son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. And the LORD has given to my lord the king vengeance this day from Saul and from his seed." 9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and he said to them, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress." 10 for the one telling me, saying, "Behold, Saul is dead," and he was as a bringer of good news in his eyes, and I seized him and killed him in Ziklag—that was to give him good news. 11 Even though wicked men have killed the righteous man in his house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hand and purge you from the land? 12 And David commanded the young men, and they killed them, cut off their hands and their feet, and hung them over the pool in Hebron. And they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.