21
1 There
was a famine
in the days
of David for
three years, year
after year; and
David sought the
face of the
LORD. The
LORD said, “It is
for Saul, and
for his bloody
house, because he
put the Gibeonites
to death.”
2 The
king called the
Gibeonites and
said to them (now
the Gibeonites
were not of
the children of
Israel, but of
the remnant of
the Amorites, and
the children of
Israel had sworn
to them; and
Saul sought to
kill them in
his zeal for
the children of
Israel and Judah);
3 and
David said to the
Gibeonites, “What
should I do
for you? And
with what should
I make atonement,
that you may
bless the LORD’s
inheritance?”
4 The
Gibeonites said to
him, “It is
no matter of
silver or gold
between us and
Saul or his
house; neither is
it for us
to put any
man to death
in Israel.”
He said, “I will
do for you
whatever you say.”
5 They said
to the king, “The
man who consumed
us and who
plotted against us,
that we should
be destroyed from
remaining in any
of the borders
of Israel,
6 let
seven men of
his sons be
delivered to us,
and we will
hang them up
to the LORD
in Gibeah of
Saul, the chosen
of the LORD.”
The king said, “I
will give them.”
7 But
the king spared
Mephibosheth the
son of Jonathan
the son of
Saul, because of
the LORD’s oath
that was between
them, between
David and Jonathan
the son of
Saul.
8 But
the king took
the two sons
of Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah, whom
she bore to
Saul, Armoni and
Mephibosheth; and
the five sons
of Merab the
daughter of Saul,
whom she bore to
Adriel the son
of Barzillai the
Meholathite.
9 He
delivered them
into the hands
of the Gibeonites;
and they hanged
them on the
mountain before
the LORD, and
all seven of
them fell together.
They were put
to death in
the days of
harvest, in the
first days, at
the beginning of
barley harvest.
10 Rizpah
the daughter
of Aiah took
sackcloth and
spread it for
herself on the
rock, from the
beginning of
harvest until
water poured on
them from the
sky. She allowed
neither the birds
of the sky
to rest on
them by day,
nor the animals
of the field
by night.
11 David
was told what
Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah,
the concubine of
Saul, had done.
12 So
David went and
took the bones
of Saul and
the bones of
Jonathan his son
from the men
of Jabesh Gilead,
who had stolen
them from the
street of Beth Shan,
where the
Philistines had
hanged them in
the day that
the Philistines
killed Saul in
Gilboa;
13 and
he brought up
from there the
bones of Saul
and the bones
of Jonathan his
son. They
also gathered the
bones of those
who were hanged.
14 They
buried the bones
of Saul and
Jonathan his son
in the country of
Benjamin in Zela,
in the tomb
of Kish his
father; and they
performed all that
the king commanded.
After that, God answered
prayer for
the land.
15 The
Philistines had
war again with
Israel; and David
went down, and
his servants with
him, and fought
against the
Philistines. David grew
faint;
16 and Ishbibenob, who
was of the
sons of the
giant, the weight
of whose spear was
three hundred
shekels of bronze
in weight, he being
armed with a
new sword, thought he
would kill David.
17 But Abishai
the son of
Zeruiah helped him,
and struck the
Philistine and
killed him. Then
the men of
David swore to
him, saying, “Don’t go
out with us
to battle any
more, so that
you don’t quench
the lamp of
Israel.”
18 After
this, there was
again war with
the Philistines at
Gob. Then Sibbecai
the Hushathite
killed Saph, who
was of the
sons of the
giant.
19 There
was again war
with the
Philistines at Gob,
and Elhanan the
son of
Jaare-Oregim the
Bethlehemite killed
Goliath the
Gittite’s brother, the
staff of whose
spear was like
a weaver’s beam.
20 There
was again war
at Gath, where
there was a man
of great stature,
who had six fingers
on every hand and
six toes on every
foot, twenty-four
in number, and
he also was
born to the
giant.
21 When
he defied Israel,
Jonathan the son
of Shimei, David’s
brother, killed him.
22 These four
were born to
the giant in
Gath; and they
fell by the
hand of David
and by the
hand of his
servants.