2 Samuel 21

Gibeonite Revenge

1Now there was 1a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and 2David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2So 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 3the sons of Israel 4made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to 5kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). 3Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless 6the inheritance of the Lord?” 4Then the Gibeonites said to him, “7We 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.” 5So they said to the king, “8The man who consumed us and who planned 9to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel, 6let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will 10hang them 11before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, 12the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7But the king spared 13Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, 14because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8So the king took the two sons of 15Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of 1617Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the 18Meholathite. 9Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they 19hanged them in the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at 20the beginning of barley harvest.

1021And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until 22it rained on them from the sky; and 23she 24allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 11When it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12then David went and took 25the 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 26Beth-shan, 27where the Philistines had hanged them on the day 28the Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa. 13He 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 29hanged. 14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in 30Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that 31God was moved by prayer for the land.

15Now when 32the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. 16Then Ishbi-benob, who was 33among the descendants of the 34giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, 35was girded with a new sword, and he 36intended to kill David. 17But 37Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “38You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish 39the lamp of Israel.”

1840Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then 41Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the 42giant. 19There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite 43killed 44Goliath the Gittite, 45the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20There was war at Gath again, where 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 46to the 47giant. 21When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 2248These four were born to the 49giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.