2 Samuel 4:12

12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

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2 Samuel 4:12 in Other Translations

KJV

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.

ESV

12 And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

NLT

12 So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron. Then they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

MSG

12 David then issued orders to his soldiers. They killed the two - chopped off their hands and feet, and hung the corpses at the pool in Hebron. But Ish-Bosheth's head they took and buried in Abner's tomb in Hebron.

CSB

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.

2 Samuel 4:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 4:12

And David commanded his young men, and they slew them
He ordered some of his guards about him to fall on them, and put them to death; and they accordingly did:

and cut off their hands and their feet;
their hands, which had smote Ishbosheth, and cut off his head; and their feet, which had been swift to shed his blood, and made haste to bring his head so many miles to David; this was what the Jews call measure for measure:

and hanged [them] up over the pool in Hebron;
not their hands and their feet, but the trunks of their bodies, thus mutilated; so Theodoret; though others think their hands and their feet were hung up, and not their bodies, because dead bodies were not to hang upon the tree more than a day; they were hung up over the fish pool in Hebron, because a public place, and where they were the more exposed to their shame, and the terror of others:

but they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried [it] in the sepulchre
of Abner in Hebron;
by order of David no doubt, who it seems had made, or ordered to be made, a sepulchre, for Abner, see ( 2 Samuel 3:38 ) ; all which David did to show his regard to the family of Saul, his abhorrence of such execrable murders, and to remove all suspicion of his being concerned in them, and to conciliate the minds of the Israelites to him.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

2 Samuel 4:12 In-Context

10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news!

11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”

Cross References 1

1. 2 Samuel 1:15