2 Samuel 21
David Gives Saul’s Sons to the Gibeonites
And there was aa famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and bDavid sought the presence of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, “It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and athe sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). 3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless athe inheritance of Yahweh?” 4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, “aWe have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” 5 So they said to the king, “aThe man who consumed us and who planned to eradicate us from standing within any border of Israel, 6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them abefore Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, bthe chosen of Yahweh.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
7 But the king spared aMephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, bbecause of the oath of Yahweh which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8 So the king took the two sons of aRizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of bMerab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the cMeholathite. 9 Then he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the mountain before Yahweh, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at athe beginning of barley harvest.
10 aAnd Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and bshe allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 Then it was told to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 So David went and took athe bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of bBeth-shan, cwhere the Philistines had hanged them on the day dthe Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa. 13 And he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 14 Then they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in aZela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and afterwards bGod was moved by the entreaty for the land.
War with the Philistines
15 And athe Philistines were at war again with Israel, so David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. 16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was aamong those born to the giants, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, was girded with a new sword, and he intended to strike down David. 17 But aAbishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “bYou shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish cthe lamp of Israel.”
18 aNow it happened afterwards that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then bSibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among those born to the giants. 19 There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, athe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 Then there was war at Gath again, and there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born ato the giants. 21 And he reproached Israel, so Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 22 aThese four were born to the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
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