2 Samuel 21
1 During the time that David [ruled], there was a famine [in Israel] for three years. David prayed to Yahweh about it. And Yahweh said, “[In order for the famine to end], Saul’s family needs to be punished [MTY] because Saul killed many people from Gibeon [city].”
And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David besought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, On account of Saul, and on account of the house of blood, is this; because he hath slain the Gib'onites.
2 The people of Gibeon were not Israelis; they were a small group of the Amor people-group whom the Israelis had solemnly promised to protect. But Saul had tried to kill all of them because he (was very zealous/wanted very much) to enable the people of Judah and Israel [to be the only ones living in that land]. So the king summoned the leaders of Gibeon
And the king called for the Gib'onites, and said unto them: [now the Gib'onites are not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Emorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them; but Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the children of Israel in Judah: ]
3 and said to them, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends/up for what was done to your people, in order that you will bless us who belong to Yahweh?”
Wherefore David said unto the Gib'onites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
4 They replied, “You cannot settle our quarrel with Saul and his family by giving us silver or gold. And we do not have the right to kill any Israelis.” So David asked, “Then/So what do you say that I should do for you?”
And the Gib'onites said unto him, We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul and with his house: nor do we wish to kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye say, will I do for you.
5 They replied, “Saul [wanted to] get rid of us. He wanted to annihilate/kill all of us, in order that none of us would live anywhere in Israel.
And they said to the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed, so that we should have no footing in all the boundaries of Israel.
6 Hand over to us seven of Saul’s descendants. We will hang them where Yahweh is worshiped in Gibeon, our town, the town where Saul, whom Yahweh previously chose to be king, lived.” The king replied, “Okay, I will hand them over to you.”
Let there be delivered unto us seven men of his sons, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gib'ah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them.
7 The king did not hand over to them Saul’s grandson Mephibosheth, because of what he and [Mephibosheth’s father] Jonathan had solemnly promised to each other.
But the king had pity on 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 Instead, he took Armoni and another man named Mephibosheth, the two sons that Saul’s slave wife Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth to, and the five sons that Saul’s daughter Merab had given birth to. Merab’s husband was Adriel, the son of a man named Barzillai from Meholah [town].
And the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Ayah, whom she had born unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she had brought up for 'Adriel the son of Barzillai the Mecholathite:
9 David handed those men over to the men from Gibeon. Then they hanged those seven men on a hill where they worshiped Yahweh. They were all killed during the time of the year that the people started to harvest the barley.
And he delivered them into the hand of the Gib'onites, and they hanged them on the mount before the Lord; and they fell, these seven, together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest, in the beginning of the barley-harvest.
10 Then Rizpah took coarse cloth made from goats’ hair, and spread it on the rock [where the corpses lay]. She stayed there from the time that people started to harvest the barley until the rains started. She did not allow any birds to come near the corpses during the day, and she did not allow any animals to come near during the night.
And Rizpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth, and spread out it for herself upon the rock, from the beginning of the harvest until water dropped down upon them out of heaven, and she suffered neither the birds of heaven to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 When someone told David what Rizpah had done,
And it was told to David what Rizpah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12 he went with some of his servants to Jabesh in [the] Gilead [region] and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. The people of Jabesh had stolen their bones from the (plaza/public square) in Beth-Shan [city], where the men from Philistia had hanged them previously, on the day that they had killed Saul and Jonathan on Gilboa [Mountain].
And David then went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Yabeshgil'ad, who had stolen them from the market-place of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them up, at the time the Philistines had smitten Saul at Gilboa':
13 David and his men took the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and they also took the bones of the seven men [from Gibeon] whom the men from Philistia had hanged.
And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered up the bones of those that had been hanged.
14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in Zela [town] in the land of [the tribe of] Benjamin. Doing all that the king commanded, they buried their bones in the tomb where Saul’s father Kish [was buried]. After that, [because] God [saw that Saul’s family had been punished to pay for Saul’s murder of many people from Gibeon, he] answered the Israelis’ prayers for their land, and caused the famine to end.
And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin at Zela', in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king had commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land.
15 The army of Philistia again started to fight against the army of Israel. And David and his soldiers went to fight the Philistines. During the battle, David became weary.
And the Philistines had again a war with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David became fatigued.
16 One of the Philistia men thought that he could kill David. His name was Ishbi-Benob. He was a descendant of [a group of] giants. He carried a bronze spear that weighed about (7-1/2 pounds/3-1/2 kg.), and he also had a new sword.
And Yishbi at Nob, who was of the children of the Raphah, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of copper, he being girded with a new armor, thought to slay David.
17 But Abishai came to help David, and attacked the giant and killed him. Then David’s soldiers forced him to promise that he would not go with them into a battle again. They said to him, “[If you die, and none of your descendants become king, that would be like] [MET] extinguishing the last light in Israel.”
But Abishai the son of Zeruyah succored him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then swore the men of David unto him, saying, Thou shalt go out no more with us to battle, that thou mayest not quench the lamp of Israel.
18 Some time after that, there was a battle with the army of Philistia near Gob [village]. During the battle, Sibbecai, from [the] Hushah [clan], killed Saph, one of the descendants of the Rapha giants.
And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle at Gob, with the Philistines: then smote Sibbechai the Chushathite Saph, who was of the children of the Raphah.
19 [Later] there was another battle with the army of Philistia at Gob. During that battle, Elhanan, the son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem, killed [the brother of] Goliath from Gath [city]; Goliath’s spear shaft/handle was (very thick, like the bar on a weaver’s loom/over two inches thick).
And there was again a battle at Gob with the Philistines, when Elchanan the son of Ya'are-oregim, the Bethlechemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
20 Later there was another battle near Gath. There was a (huge man/giant) there who liked to fight [in battles]. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was descended from [the] Rapha [giants].
And there was again a battle in Gath, where was a man of [great] stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, [in all] four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the Raphah.
21 But when he (made fun of/ridiculed) the men in the Israeli [army], Jonathan, the son of David’s [older] brother Shimeah, killed him.
And he defied Israel; but Jonathan the son of Shim'ah, the brother of David, slew him.
22 Those four men were some of the descendants of the Rapha giants who had lived in Gath, who were killed [MTY] by David and his soldiers.
These four were born to the Raphah in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
