¹Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. ³And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” ⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” ⁵They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, ⁶let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them up before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adri-el the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; ⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens; and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, ¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa; ¹³and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded supplications for the land.

¹⁵The Philistines had war again with Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines; and David grew weary. ¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was girded with a new sword, thought to kill David. ¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men adjured him, “You shall no more go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

¹⁸After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. ¹⁹And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. ²⁰And there was again war at Gath, 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 was descended from the giants. ²¹And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shime-i, David’s brother, slew him. ²²These four were descended from the giants in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 22

¹And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

²He said,

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,

³my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold and my refuge,

my savior; thou savest me from violence.

⁴I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

⁵“For the waves of death encompassed me,

the torrents of perdition assailed me;

⁶the cords of Sheol entangled me,

the snares of death confronted me.

⁷“In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I called.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry came to his ears.

⁸“Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations of the heavens trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

⁹Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

¹⁰He bowed the heavens, and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

¹¹He rode on a cherub, and flew;

he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

¹²He made darkness around him

his canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water.

¹³Out of the brightness before him

coals of fire flamed forth.

¹⁴The Lord thundered from heaven,

and the Most High uttered his voice.

¹⁵And he sent out arrows, and scattered them;

lightning, and routed them.

¹⁶Then the channels of the sea were seen,

the foundations of the world were laid bare,

at the rebuke of the Lord,

at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

¹⁷“He reached from on high, he took me,

he drew me out of many waters.

¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy,

from those who hated me;

for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁹They came upon me in the day of my calamity;

but the Lord was my stay.

²⁰He brought me forth into a broad place;

he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²¹“The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.

²²For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²³For all his ordinances were before me,

and from his statutes I did not turn aside.

²⁴I was blameless before him,

and I kept myself from guilt.

²⁵Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

according to my cleanness in his sight.

²⁶“With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal;

with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless;

²⁷with the pure thou dost show thyself pure,

and with the crooked thou dost show thyself perverse.

²⁸Thou dost deliver a humble people,

but thy eyes are upon the haughty to bring them down.

²⁹Yea, thou art my lamp, O Lord,

and my God lightens my darkness.

³⁰Yea, by thee I can crush a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

³¹This God—his way is perfect;

the promise of the Lord proves true;

he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

³²“For who is God, but the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?

³³This God is my strong refuge,

and has made my way safe.

³⁴He made my feet like hinds’ feet,

and set me secure on the heights.

³⁵He trains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁶Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation,

and thy help made me great.

³⁷Thou didst give a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip;

³⁸I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,

and did not turn back until they were consumed.

³⁹I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise;

they fell under my feet.

⁴⁰For thou didst gird me with strength for the battle;

thou didst make my assailants sink under me.

⁴¹Thou didst make my enemies turn their backs to me,

those who hated me, and I destroyed them.

⁴²They looked, but there was none to save;

they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

⁴³I beat them fine as the dust of the earth,

I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets.

⁴⁴“Thou didst deliver me from strife with the peoples;

thou didst keep me as the head of the nations;

people whom I had not known served me.

⁴⁵Foreigners came cringing to me;

as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.

⁴⁶Foreigners lost heart,

and came trembling out of their fastnesses.

⁴⁷“The Lord lives; and blessed be my rock,

and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,

⁴⁸the God who gave me vengeance

and brought down peoples under me,

⁴⁹who brought me out from my enemies;

thou didst exalt me above my adversaries,

thou didst deliver me from men of violence.

⁵⁰“For this I will extol thee, O Lord, among the nations,

and sing praises to thy name.

⁵¹Great triumphs he gives to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his anointed,

to David, and his descendants for ever.”

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