2 Samuel 4:2-12

4:2 Now Saul’s son ¹  had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin, 4:3 for the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have remained there as resident foreigners until the present time.) ² 

4:4 Now Saul’s son Jonathan had a son who was crippled in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan arrived from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but in her haste to get away, he fell and was injured. ³  Mephibosheth was his name.

4:5 Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite – Recab and Baanah – went at the hottest part of the day to the home of Ish-bosheth, as he was enjoying his midday rest. 4:6 They ⁴  entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat and mortally wounded him ⁵  in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.

4:7 They had entered ⁶  the house while Ish-bosheth ⁷  was resting on his bed in his bedroom. They mortally wounded him ⁸  and then cut off his head. ⁹  Taking his head, ¹⁰  they traveled on the way of the Arabah all that night. 4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against ¹¹  Saul and his descendants!”

4:9 David replied to Recab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered my life from all adversity, 4:10 when someone told me that Saul was dead – even though he thought he was bringing good news ¹²  – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him! 4:11 Surely when wicked men have killed an innocent man as he slept ¹³  in his own house, should I not now require his blood from your hands and remove ¹⁴  you from the earth?”

4:12 So David issued orders to the soldiers and they put them to death. Then they cut off their hands and feet and hung them ¹⁵  near the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth ¹⁶  and buried it in the tomb of Abner ¹⁷  in Hebron. ¹⁸ 

2 Samuel 4:2

4:2 Now Saul’s son ¹⁹  had two men who were in charge of raiding units; one was named Baanah and the other Recab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, who was a Benjaminite. (Beeroth is regarded as belonging to Benjamin,

2 Samuel 8:14

8:14 He placed garrisons throughout Edom, ²⁰  and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The Lord protected David wherever he campaigned.

2 Samuel 10:6-9

10:6 When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, ²¹  they ²²  sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah, ²³  in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob. ²⁴ 

10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. ²⁵  10:8 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish-tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

10:9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. ²⁶ 

Psalms 41:9

41:9 Even my close friend ²⁷  whom I trusted,

he who shared meals with me, has turned against me. ²⁸ 

Micah 7:5-6

7:5 Do not rely on a friend;

do not trust a companion!

Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! ²⁹ 

7:6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,

a daughter challenges ³⁰  her mother,

and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;

a man’s enemies are his own servants. ³¹ 

Matthew 26:23

26:23 He ³²  answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me ³³  will betray me.

Mark 14:20

14:20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who dips his hand ³⁴  with me into the bowl. ³⁵ 

John 13:18

The Announcement of Jesus’ Betrayal

13:18 “What I am saying does not refer to all of you. I know the ones I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture, ³⁶  ‘The one who eats my bread ³⁷  has turned against me.’ ³⁸ 

[4:2]  ¹ tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “until this day.”

[4:4]  ³ tn Heb “and was lame.”

[4:6]  ⁴ tc For the MT’s וְהֵנָּה (vÿhennah, “and they,” feminine) read וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and behold”). See the LXX, Syriac Peshitta, and Targum.

[4:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they struck him down.”

[4:7]  ⁶ tn After the concluding disjunctive clause at the end of v. 6, the author now begins a more detailed account of the murder and its aftermath.

[4:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ish-bosheth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “they struck him down and killed him.” The expression is a verbal hendiadys.

[4:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they removed his head.” The Syriac Peshitta and Vulgate lack these words.

[4:7]  ¹⁰ tc The Lucianic Greek recension lacks the words “his head.”

[4:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from.”

[4:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and he was like a bearer of good news in his eyes.”

[4:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “on his bed.”

[4:11]  ¹⁴ tn See HALOT 146 s.v. II בער. Some derive the verb from a homonym meaning “to burn; to consume.”

[4:12]  ¹⁵ tn The antecedent of the pronoun “them” (which is not present in the Hebrew text, but implied) is not entirely clear. Presumably it is the corpses that were hung and not merely the detached hands and feet; cf. NIV “hung the (their NRSV, NLT) bodies”; the alternative is represented by TEV “cut off their hands and feet, which they hung up.”

[4:12]  ¹⁶ tc 4QSam^a mistakenly reads “Mephibosheth” here.

[4:12]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX adds “the son of Ner” by conformity with common phraseology elsewhere.

[4:12]  ¹⁸ tc Some mss of the LXX lack the phrase “in Hebron.”

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tc The present translation, “Saul’s son had two men,” is based on the reading “to the son of Saul,” rather than the MT’s “the son of Saul.” The context requires the preposition to indicate the family relationship.

[8:14]  ²⁰ tc The MT is repetitious here: “He placed in Edom garrisons; in all Edom he placed garrisons.” The Vulgate lacks “in all Edom”; most of the Greek tradition (with the exception of the Lucianic recension and the recension of Origen) and the Syriac Peshitta lack “he placed garrisons.” The MT reading appears here to be the result of a conflation of variant readings.

[10:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “that they were a stench [i.e., disgusting] with David.”

[10:6]  ²² tn Heb “the Ammonites.”

[10:6]  ²³ tn Or “Arameans of Beth Rehob and Arameans of Zobah.”

[10:6]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “the men of Tob.” The ancient versions (the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) understand the name to be “Ish-tob.” It is possible that “Ish” is dittographic and that we should read simply “Tob,” a reading adopted by a number of recent English versions.

[10:7]  ²⁵ tn The words “the news” and “to meet them” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[10:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and Joab saw that the face of the battle was to him before and behind and he chose from all the best in Israel and arranged to meet Aram.”

[41:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “man of my peace.” The phrase here refers to one’s trusted friend (see Jer 38:22; Obad 7).

[41:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “has made a heel great against me.” The precise meaning of this phrase, which appears only here, is uncertain.

[7:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”

[7:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “rises up against.”

[7:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “the enemies of a man are the men of his house.”

[26:23]  ³² tn Grk “answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:23]  ³³ sn The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me. The point of Jesus’ comment here is not to identify the specific individual per se, but to indicate that it is one who was close to him – somebody whom no one would suspect. His comment serves to heighten the treachery of Judas’ betrayal.

[14:20]  ³⁴ tn Grk “one who dips with me.” The phrase “his hand” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:20]  ³⁵ sn One who dips with me in the bowl. The point of Jesus’ comment here is not to identify the specific individual per se, but to indicate that it is one who was close to him – somebody whom no one would suspect. His comment serves to heighten the treachery of Judas’ betrayal.

[13:18]  ³⁶ tn Grk “But so that the scripture may be fulfilled.”

[13:18]  ³⁷ tn Or “The one who shares my food.”

[13:18]  ³⁸ tn Or “has become my enemy”; Grk “has lifted up his heel against me.” The phrase “to lift up one’s heel against someone” reads literally in the Hebrew of Ps 41 “has made his heel great against me.” There have been numerous interpretations of this phrase, but most likely it is an idiom meaning “has given me a great fall,” “has taken cruel advantage of me,” or “has walked out on me.” Whatever the exact meaning of the idiom, it clearly speaks of betrayal by a close associate. See E. F. F. Bishop, “‘He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me’ – Jn xiii.18 (Ps xli.9),” ExpTim 70 (1958-59): 331-33.