Ishbosheth Is Murdered

4 When Saul’s ^[a]son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, ^(A)he^[b] lost heart, and all Israel was ^(B)troubled. ² Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. (For ^(C)Beeroth also was ^[c]part of Benjamin, ³ because the Beerothites fled to ^(D)Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.)

⁵ Then the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the ^(A)house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon. ⁶ And they came there, all the way into the house, as though to get wheat, and they ^[a]stabbed him ^(B)in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷ For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain. ⁸ And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, ^(C)who sought your life; and the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.”

⁹ But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the Lord lives, ^(D)who has redeemed my life from all adversity, ¹⁰ when ^(E)someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. ¹¹ How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now ^(F)require his ^[b]blood at your hand and ^[c]remove you from the earth?” ¹² So David ^(G)commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the ^(H)tomb of Abner in Hebron.

David Reigns over All Israel^(A)

5 Then all the tribes of Israel ^(B)came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Indeed ^(C)we are your bone and your flesh. ² Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, ^(D)you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ^(E)‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’ ” ^3 (F)Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, ^(G)and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron ^(H)before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was ^(I)thirty years old when he began to reign, and ^(J)he reigned forty years. ⁵ In Hebron he reigned over Judah ^(K)seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

David’s Army at Hebron

²³ Now these were the numbers of the ^[a]divisions that were equipped for war, and ^(A)came to David at ^(B)Hebron to ^(C)turn over the kingdom of Saul to him, ^(D)according to the word of the Lord: ²⁴ of the sons of Judah bearing shield and spear, six thousand eight hundred ^[b]armed for war; ²⁵ of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor fit for war, seven thousand one hundred; ²⁶ of the sons of Levi four thousand six hundred; ²⁷ Jehoiada, the leader of the Aaronites, and with him three thousand seven hundred; ^28 (E)Zadok, a young man, a valiant warrior, and from his father’s house twenty-two captains; ²⁹ of the sons of Benjamin, relatives of Saul, three thousand (until then ^(F)the greatest part of them had remained loyal to the house of Saul); ³⁰ of the sons of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, ^[c]famous men throughout their father’s house; ³¹ of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were designated by name to come and make David king; ³² of the sons of Issachar ^(G)who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command; ³³ of Zebulun there were fifty thousand who went out to battle, expert in war with all weapons of war, ^(H)stouthearted men who could keep ranks; ³⁴ of Naphtali one thousand captains, and with them thirty-seven thousand with shield and spear; ³⁵ of the Danites who could keep battle formation, twenty-eight thousand six hundred; ³⁶ of Asher, those who could go out to war, able to keep battle formation, forty thousand; ³⁷ of the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, from the other side of the Jordan, one hundred and twenty thousand armed for battle with every kind of weapon of war.

³⁸ All these men of war, who could keep ranks, came to Hebron with a loyal heart, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were of ^(I)one mind to make David king. ³⁹ And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their brethren had prepared for them. ⁴⁰ Moreover those who were near to them, from as far away as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, were bringing food on donkeys and camels, on mules and oxen—provisions of flour and cakes of figs and cakes of raisins, wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly, for there was joy in Israel.

A Song of God’s Majesty and Love

^(A)A Praise of David.