2 Samuël 4
Het Boek
De dood van Isboseth
4 Het nieuws van Abners dood in Hebron bracht koning Isboseth in grote verwarring. Hij en zijn onderdanen waren verlamd door angst. 2,3 Het bevel over het leger van Israël kwam nu in handen van de broers Baëna en Rechab, die de overvalcommandoʼs van koning Isboseth leidden. Zij waren zonen van Rimmon uit Beëroth in Benjamin. Mensen uit Beëroth worden beschouwd als Benjaminieten, ook al vluchtten zij indertijd naar Gitthaim, waar zij nu nog wonen. 4 Er leefde ook nog een kleinzoon van koning Saul. Hij heette Mefiboseth en was een zoon van Jonathan. Op het moment van de slag bij Jizreël, waarin Saul en Jonathan sneuvelden, was deze Mefiboseth vijf jaar oud. Toen het nieuws over de nederlaag de hoofdstad bereikte, vluchtte de verzorgster met het kind, maar in haar haast viel zij en liet het kind vallen. Zo raakte Mefiboseth verlamd.
5 Rechab en Baëna kwamen op een middag bij het huis van koning Isboseth. Deze hield net een middagslaapje. 6,7 Zij gingen het huis binnen en deden net alsof zij een zak tarwe wilden halen. Zij slopen naar zijn slaapkamer, vermoordden hem en hakten zijn hoofd af. Zij vluchtten die nacht de woestijn in en wisten zo te ontsnappen. Het hoofd van Isboseth namen zij mee. 8 In Hebron aangekomen, lieten zij het hoofd aan David zien. ‘Kijk!’ zeiden zij. ‘Hier is het hoofd van Sauls zoon Isboseth, die probeerde u te doden. Vandaag heeft de Here u wraak gegeven op Saul en zijn hele familie!’ 9 Maar David antwoordde: ‘Ik zweer bij de Here, die mij van mijn vijanden redde, 10 dat toen iemand mij vertelde: “Saul is dood,” en daarbij dacht dat hij mij goed nieuws bracht, ik hem heb gedood. Zo beloonde ik hem voor zijn “goede bericht”. 11 Dus wat moet ik dan wel doen met zulke goddeloze mannen, die een goede man doden die thuis op zijn bed ligt te slapen! Zou ik die niet zéker ter dood veroordelen?’ 12 Daarom gaf David zijn mannen opdracht hen te doden. Dat deden zij onmiddellijk. Zij hakten hun handen en voeten af en hingen hun lichamen bij de vijver in Hebron. Isboseths hoofd begroeven zij in Abners graf in Hebron.
2 Samuel 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Two men kill Ish-Bosheth
4 Saul's son Ish-Bosheth heard the news that Abner had died in Hebron.[a] Then he felt very frightened. All the people in Israel became afraid. 2 Ish-Bosheth had two officers called Baanah and Recab. They were leaders of small groups of soldiers. Their father was Rimmon from Beeroth. He belonged to Benjamin's tribe. At that time, Beeroth was part of Benjamin's land. 3 The people from Beeroth had run away to Gittaim. So Beeroth's people still live there as strangers.
4 Saul's son Jonathan had a son called Mephibosheth. Since he was five years old he had not been able to walk. At that time someone had come from Jezreel to say that Saul and Jonathan had died. So Mephibosheth's nurse picked him up to escape with him. But as she ran in a hurry, he fell to the ground. It hurt his feet very badly.
5 Rimmon's sons, Recab and Baanah, left their home and they went to Ish-Bosheth's house. They arrived in the middle of the day when it was very hot. Ish-Bosheth was resting on his bed. 6 They went into the house as if they wanted to get some wheat. But they pushed knives into Ish-Bosheth's stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.
7 When they had gone into the house, Ish-Bosheth had been lying on his bed in his bedroom. After they had killed him, they cut off his head. They took it with them and they travelled all night through the Jordan Valley. 8 They brought Ish-Bosheth's head to David in Hebron. They said to the king, ‘Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth, Saul's son! Saul was your enemy who wanted to kill you. So today the Lord has punished him and his descendants. They have paid for the bad things that they did to you, our lord, the king.’
9 David answered Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth. He said to them, ‘The Lord has rescued me from all my troubles. So I tell you this, as surely as the Lord lives: 10 When someone told me in Ziklag, “Saul is dead”, he thought that he was bringing good news to me. But I took hold of him and I told my men to kill him. That was how I paid him for his good news![b] 11 Now you wicked men have done a worse thing. You killed a good man in his own house while he was asleep! So I must surely punish you for his death. You must disappear from the earth!’
12 So David commanded his young men to kill Recab and Baanah. After they had killed them, they cut off their hands and their feet. They hung the dead bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took Ish-Bosheth's head and they buried it in Abner's grave in Hebron.
Footnotes
- 4:1 Saul's son here was Ish-Bosheth.
- 4:10 See 2 Samuel 1:14-16.
2 Samuel 4
King James Version
4 And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.
2 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 Rimmon a Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin: (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin.
3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.)
4 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.
5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
6 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.
7 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 gat them away through the plain all night.
8 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.
9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
10 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:
11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
12 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 Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.
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