Chapter Four And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron,
his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
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 Rimen a Beorothite, of the children of Benjamin.
For Beoroth also was reckoned a Benjamin.
And the Beorothites fled to Gittaeum, and were sojourners there until this day.
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.
And the sons of Rimen the Beorothite, Rechab and Baanah, went and came about the
heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
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.
For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber.
And they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head,
and gaped them away through the plain all night.
And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David, to Hebron, and said to the
king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, thine enemy, which sought
thy life.
And the Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed.
And David answered Rechab and Baanah, his brother, the sons of Rimen the
Beorothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my
soul out of all adversity?
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?
How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon
his bed?
Shall I not therefore now acquire his blood of your hand, and take you away from
the earth?
And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their
hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron.
But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.