4:1 When Ish-bosheth 1 the son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he was very disheartened, 2 and all Israel was afraid. 4:2 Now Saul’s son 3 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,
1 tn The MT does not specify the subject of the verb here, but the reference is to Ish-bosheth, so the name has been supplied in the translation for clarity. 4QSama and the LXX mistakenly read “Mephibosheth.”
2 tn Heb “his hands went slack.”
3 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.