1 And the son of Saul hears that Abner is dead in Hebron, and his hands are feeble, and all of Israel has been troubled. 2 And two men, heads of troops, have been to the son of Saul, the name of the first is Baanah, and the name of the second Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for Beeroth is also reckoned to Benjamin, 3 and the Beerothites flee to Gittaim, and are sojourners there to this day. 4 And to Jonathan son of Saul is a son—lame; he was a son of five years at the coming in of the rumor of the death of Saul and Jonathan, out of Jezreel, and his nurse lifts him up, and flees, and it comes to pass in her hastening to flee, that he falls, and becomes lame, and his name is Mephibosheth. 5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, go, and come in at the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth, and he is lying down—the lying down of noon; 6 and they have come there, to the midst of the house, taking wheat, and they strike him to the fifth rib, and Rechab and his brother Baanah have escaped; 7 indeed, they come into the house, and he is lying on his bed, in the inner part of his bed-chamber, and they strike him, and put him to death, and turn his head aside, and they take his head, and go the way of the plain all the night, 8 and bring in the head of Ish-Bosheth to David in Hebron, and say to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-Bosheth, son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; and YHWH gives vengeance to my lord the king this day, of Saul and of his seed.” 9 And David answers Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and says to them, “YHWH lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10 when one is declaring to me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, and he was as a bearer of tidings in his own eyes, then I take hold on him, and slay him in Ziklag, instead of my giving to him for the tidings. 11 Also—when wicked men have slain the righteous man in his own house, on his bed; and now, do I not require his blood from your hand, and have taken you away from the earth?” 12 And David commands the young men, and they slay them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hang them over the pool in Hebron, and they have taken the head of Ish-Bosheth, and bury it in the burying-place of Abner in Hebron.