2 Samuel 4

4 ¹ When Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his courage failed him, and all Israel was dismayed.

² Saul's son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, from the people of Benjamin — for Beeroth also is counted as part of Benjamin, ³ for the Beerothites had fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.

⁴ Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried away, he fell and was crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.

⁵ Now Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and came to the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while he was taking his noonday rest. ⁶ They came into the middle of the house as though to fetch wheat, and they stabbed him in the belly. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

⁷ They had come into the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom. After they struck him down and killed him, they cut off his head, took it, and traveled all night by way of the Arabah. ⁸ They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. Today our Father has given my lord the king justice against Saul and his offspring." ¹ 1 v8 The killers credit our Father with their crime, but his answer comes through David, who condemns them as murderers of an innocent man.

David Executes the Murderers

⁹ But David replied to Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as our Father lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress — ¹⁰ when someone told me, 'Look, Saul is dead,' thinking he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That 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 own bed — should I not now hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?

¹² So David gave the order to his young men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner's tomb at Hebron.