1And the son of Saul heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, and his hands became feeble, and all Israel was dismayed.
2And two men (ish), captains of troops, belonged to the son of Saul; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the second Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin; for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin,
3and the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and they have been sojourners there until this day.
4And to Jonathan, son of Saul, there was a son lame of feet. He was a son of five years when the report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled; and it came to pass, in her haste to flee, that he fell and was made lame; and his name was Mephibosheth.
5And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came in the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, as he was lying down at the rest of noon.
6And here, they came into the midst of the house fetching wheat, and they struck him in the belly; and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped.
7And they came into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedchamber, and they struck him and put him to death, and removed his head, and took his head, and went the way of the Arabah all the night.
8And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king: "Behold the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your soul (nephesh); and YHWH has given to my lord the king vengeance this day from Saul and from his seed."
9And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them: "As YHWH lives (chai), who has redeemed my soul (nephesh) out of all distress,
10when the one who told me, saying, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' and he was in his own eyes as a bearer of good news, I took hold of him and killed him in Ziklag, which was my giving to him for the tidings;
11how much more, when wicked men (ish) have slain a righteous man (ish) in his own house upon his bed; and now, shall I not require his blood from your hand, and consume you from the earth?"
12And David commanded (tzivvah) the young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hung them up over the pool in Hebron. But the head of Ish-bosheth they took, and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.