2 Samuel 21
1 And there is a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year, and David seeks the face of YHWH, and YHWH says, “[This is] for Saul and for the bloody house, because that he put the Gibeonites to death.”
In the days of David they were short of food for three years, year after year; and David went before the Lord for directions. And the Lord said, On Saul and on his family there is blood, because he put the Gibeonites to death.
2 And the king calls for the Gibeonites and says to them—as for the Gibeonites, they [are] not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul seeks to strike them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah—
Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were the last of the Amorites, to whom the children of Israel had given an oath; but Saul, in his passion for the children of Israel and Judah, had made an attempt on their lives: )
3 indeed, David says to the Gibeonites, “What do I do for you? And with what do I make atonement? And bless the inheritance of YHWH.”
So David said to the Gibeonites, What may I do for you? how am I to make up to you for your wrongs, so that you may give a blessing to the heritage of the Lord?
4 And the Gibeonites say to him, “We have no silver and gold by Saul and by his house, and we have no man to put to death in Israel”; and he says, “What you are saying I do to you.”
And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not a question of silver and gold between us and Saul or his family; and it is not in our power to put to death any man in Israel. And he said, Say, then, what am I to do for you?
5 And they say to the king, “The man who consumed us, and who devised against us—we have been destroyed from stationing ourselves in all the border of Israel—
And they said to the king, As for the man by whom we were wasted, and who made designs against us to have us completely cut off from the land of Israel,
6 let there be given to us seven men of his sons, and we have hanged them before YHWH, in the height of Saul, the chosen of YHWH.” And the king says, “I give”;
Let seven men of his family be given up to us and we will put an end to them by hanging them before the Lord in Gibeon, on the hill of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them.
7 and the king has pity on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath of YHWH that [is] between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul;
But the king did not give up Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the Lord's oath made between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
8 and the king takes the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite,
But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Saul to whom Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth; and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whose father was Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
9 and gives them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hang them in the hill before YHWH; and the seven fall together, and they have been put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], the commencement of barley-harvest.
And he gave them up to the Gibeonites, and they put them to death, hanging them on the mountain before the Lord; all seven came to their end together in the first days of the grain-cutting, at the start of the cutting of the barley.
10 And Rizpah daughter of Aiah takes the sackcloth, and stretches it out for herself on the rock, from the commencement of harvest until water has been poured out on them from the heavens, and has not permitted a bird of the heavens to rest on them by day, or the beast of the field by night.
And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took haircloth, placing it on the rock as a bed for herself, from the start of the grain-cutting till rain came down on them from heaven; and she did not let the birds of the air come near them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.
11 And it is declared to David that which Rizpah daughter of Aiah, concubine of Saul, has done,
And news was given to David of what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, one of Saul's wives, had done.
12 and David goes and takes the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, from the possessors of Jabesh-Gilead, who had stolen them from the broad place of Beth-Shan, where the Philistines hanged them, in the day of the Philistines striking Saul in Gilboa;
And David went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them away secretly from the public place of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had put them, hanging up the bodies there on the day when they put Saul to death in Gilboa:
13 and he brings up there the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gather the bones of those hanged,
And he took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from that place; and they got together the bones of those who had been put to death by hanging.
14 and bury the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the burying-place of his father Kish, and do all that the king commanded, and God accepts the plea for the land afterward.
And they put them with the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the resting-place of Kish, his father, in Zela in the country of Benjamin; they did all the king had given them orders to do. And after that, God gave ear to their prayers for the land.
15 And again the Philistines have war with Israel, and David goes down, and his servants with him, and they fight with the Philistines; and David is weary,
And the Philistines went to war again with Israel; and David went down with his people, and while they were at Gob they had a fight with the Philistines:
16 and Ishbi-Benob, who [is] among the children of the giant—the weight of his spear [is] three hundred [shekels in] weight of bronze, and he is girded with a new one—speaks of striking David,
And there came against David one of the offspring of the Rephaim, whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, and having a new sword, he made an attempt to put David to death.
17 and Abishai son of Zeruiah gives help to him, and strikes the Philistine, and puts him to death; then the men of David swear to him, saying, “You do not go out with us to battle again, nor quench the lamp of Israel.”
But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his help, and, turning on the Philistine, gave him his death-blow. Then David's men took an oath, and said, Never again are you to go out with us to the fight, so that you may not put out the light of Israel.
18 And it comes to pass afterward that the battle is again in Gob with the Philistines. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite has struck Saph, who [is] among the children of the giant.
Now after this there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Sibbecai the Hushathite put to death Saph, one of the offspring of the Rephaim.
19 And the battle is again in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim, the Beth-Lehemite, strikes [a brother of] Goliath the Gittite, and the wood of his spear [is] like a weavers’ beam.
And again there was war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan, the son of Jair the Beth-lehemite, put to death Goliath the Gittite, the stem of whose spear was like a cloth-worker's rod.
20 And the battle is again in Gath, and there is a man of [great] stature, and the fingers of his hands [are] six, and the toes of his feet [are] six—twenty-four in number, and he has also been born to the giant,
And again there was war at Gath, where there was a very tall man, who had twenty-four fingers and toes, six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet; he was one of the offspring of the Rephaim.
21 and he reproaches Israel, and Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, strikes him;
And when he was purposing to put shame on Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, David's brother, put him to death.
22 these four have been born to the giant in Gath, and they fall by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
These four were of the offspring of the Rephaim in Gath; and they came to their end by the hands of David and his servants.
