Chapter 21

Gibeonite Revenge

1 Now there was aa famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and bDavid 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.”

2 So 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 athe sons of Israel 1made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to 2kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).

3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless athe inheritance of the Lord?”

4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, “aWe 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.”

5 So they said to the king, “aThe man who consumed us and who planned 1to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel,

6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will 1hang them abefore the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, bthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared aMephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, bbecause of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan.

8 So the king took the two sons of aRizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of 1bMerab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the cMeholathite.

9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they 1hanged 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 athe beginning of barley harvest.

10 aAnd Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until 1it rained on them from the sky; and bshe 2allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

11 When it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

12 then David went and took athe 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 bBeth-shan, cwhere the Philistines had hanged them on the day dthe Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa.

13 He 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 1hanged.

14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in aZela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that bGod was moved by prayer for the land.

15 Now when athe 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.

16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was aamong the descendants of the 1giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, 2was girded with a new sword, and he 3intended to kill David.

17 But aAbishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “bYou shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish cthe lamp of Israel.”

18 aNow it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then bSibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the 1giant.

19 There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite 1killed 2Goliath the Gittite, athe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

20 There 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 ato the 1giant.

21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down.

22 aThese four were born to the 1giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.