2 Samuel 21
1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
Once during David's reign there was a famine for three years in a row, and David asked the Lord about it. The Lord replied, “It's because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
2 And 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 slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)
David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. The Gibeonites were not Israelites, but what was left of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to them, but in his nationalistic passion for the Israelites and Judah, Saul had tried to wipe them out.
3 Why David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and with which shall I make the atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?
“What can I do for you?” David asked the Gibeonites. “How can I compensate you so that you may bless the Lord's people?”
4 And the Gibeonites said to him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shall you kill any man in Israel. And he said, What you shall say, that will I do for you.
“This isn't a question of us receiving payment in silver or gold from Saul or his family,” the Gibeonites replied. “In addition we don't have the right to have anyone in Israel put to death for us.” “I'll do whatever you ask,” David answered.
5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
They replied, “Regarding the man who destroyed us, who planned to prevent us having any place to live in the whole country 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, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
have seven of Saul's male descendants be handed over to us, and we will hang them in the presence of the Lord at Gibeon of Saul, the Lord's chosen one.” “I will hand them over to you,” said the king.
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.
However, the king spared Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath sworn before the Lord between David and Jonathan, 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 Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
The king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
He handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill in the presence of the Lord. All seven of them died at the same time, executed at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped on them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took some sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the time the rains came and poured down on the bodies, she kept the birds away from them during the day and the wild animals at night.
11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
When David heard what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine of Saul had done,
12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:
he retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.
13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.
David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought back, and also had the bones of those who had been hanged gathered up.
14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulcher of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.
They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. Once they finished doing everything the king had ordered, God answered their prayers to end the famine in the land.
15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.
There was war once more between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight the Philistines, and he got worn out.
16 And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.
Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels, and who was carrying a new sword, said he was going to kill David.
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succored him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall go no more out with us to battle, that you quench not the light of Israel.
But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to his rescue, attacked the Philistine, and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “Don't ever go out with us to battle again, so that the Israel's light isn't snuffed out!”
18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.
Some time after this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. But then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Repha.
19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan, son of Jair, from Bethlehem, killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite. The shaft of his spear was as thick as a weaver's rod.
20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
In yet another battle at Gath, there was a gigantic man, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, making twenty-four all. He too was descended from the giants.
21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him.
But when he insulted Israel, Jonathan, son of Shimea, David's brother, killed him.
22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
These four were the descendants of the giants in Gath, but they were all killed by David and his men.
