2 Samuel 4:7-12

7 They had entered the house while Ish-bosheth was lying on his bed in his bedroom and stabbed and killed him. Then they beheaded him, took his head, and traveled by way of the Arabah all night.
8 They brought Ish-bosheth's head to David at Hebron and said to the king, "Here's the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who intended to take your life. Today the Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring."
9 But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As surely as the Lord lives, [the One] who has redeemed my life from every distress,
10 when the person told me, 'Look, Saul is dead,' he thought he was a bearer of good news, but I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag.[a] That was my reward to him for his news!
11 How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house on his own bed! So now, should I not require his blood from your hands and wipe you off the earth?"
12 So David gave orders to the young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung [their bodies] by the pool in Hebron, but they took Ish-bosheth's head and buried it in Abner's tomb in Hebron.[b]

2 Samuel 4:7-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 4

This chapter relates the concern the death of Abner gave to Ishbosheth, and the men of Israel, 2Sa 4:1; the murder of Ishbosheth by two of his captains, who cut off his head, and brought it to David, 2Sa 4:2-8; by whom they were rewarded according to their deserts, he putting them to death, and exposing their bodies to shame and ignominy, 2Sa 4:9-12.

Footnotes 2

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.