2 Samuel 21

1During David’s reign there was a famine for three years, one year after another. So David sought the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

2So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (The Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to spare them, but Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

3David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make atonement, so that you will bless Yahweh’s inheritance?”

4The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, and it is not for us to put anyone in Israel to death.” David said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

5They said to the king, “The man who wiped us out and schemed against us, so that we have been destroyed and have no place anywhere in Israel’s territory,

6let seven of his sons be handed over to us, and we will hang them before Yahweh at Gibeah of Saul, Yahweh’s chosen one.” The king said, “I will hand them over.”

7But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before Yahweh that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

8The king took the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons whom Michal daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before Yahweh. All seven of them died together. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

10Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down on the bodies from the sky, she did not let the birds of the sky settle on them by day or the wild animals by night.

11When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

12David went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

13He brought up the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.

14They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of his father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.

15Once again there was war between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines, and David grew exhausted.

16Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new weapon, intended to kill David.

17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his rescue, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that you do not put out the lamp of Israel.”

18After this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

19There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

20There was yet another battle, at Gath, where there was a huge man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha.

21When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.

22These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.