CHAPTER 21
Now during the reign
of David
there was
a famine
for three
successive years,
and David
sought
the face
of the LORD.
And the LORD
said,
“It is because of
the blood
shed by Saul
and his family,
because
he killed
the Gibeonites.”
At this, David
summoned
the Gibeonites
and spoke
to them.
(Now the Gibeonites
were
not
Israelites,
but
a remnant
of the Amorites.
The Israelites
had taken an oath concerning them,
but in his zeal
for Israel
and Judah,
Saul
had sought
to kill them.)
So David
asked
the Gibeonites,
“What
shall I do
for you?
How
can I make amends
so that you may bless
the inheritance
of the LORD?”
The Gibeonites
said to him,
“We need no
silver
or gold
from
Saul
or
his house,
nor
should you
put to death
anyone in Israel
for us.”
“Whatever
you
ask,
I will do for you,”
he replied.
And they answered
the king,
“As for the man
who
consumed us
and
plotted
against us
to exterminate us
from existing
within any
border
of Israel,
let seven
of his male descendants
be delivered
to us
so that we may hang them
before the LORD
in Gibeah
of Saul,
the chosen
of the LORD.”
“I
will give them to you,”
said
the king.
Now the king
spared
Mephibosheth
son
of Jonathan,
the son
of Saul,
because of
the oath
before the LORD
between
David
and
Jonathan
son
of Saul.
But the king
took
Armoni
and Mephibosheth,
the two
sons
whom
Rizpah
daughter
of Aiah
had borne
to Saul,
and the five
sons
whom
Merab
daughter
of Saul
had borne
to Adriel
son
of Barzillai
the Meholathite,
and he delivered them
into the hands
of the Gibeonites,
and they hanged them
on the hill
before
the LORD.
So all seven of them
fell
together;
they
were put to death
in the first
days
of the harvest,
at the beginning
of the barley
harvest.
And Rizpah
the daughter
of Aiah
took
sackcloth
and spread it out
for herself
on
a rock.
From
the beginning
of the harvest
until
the rain
from heaven
poured down
on the bodies,
she did not allow
the birds
of the air
to rest
on them
by day,
nor
the beasts
of the field
by night.
he
went
and took
the bones
of Saul
and his son
Jonathan
from
the men
of Jabesh-gilead,
who
had stolen
them
from the public square
of
Beth-shan
where
the Philistines
had hung the bodies
after
they
had struck down
Saul
at Gilboa.
So David had the bones
of Saul
and
his son
Jonathan
brought
from there,
along with
the bones
of those who had been hanged.
And they buried
the bones
of Saul
and his son
Jonathan
in Zela
in the land
of Benjamin,
in the tomb
of Saul’s father
Kish.
After
they had done
everything
the king
had commanded,
God
answered their prayers
for the land.
Once again
the Philistines
waged war
against
Israel,
and David
and his servants
went down
and fought
against
the Philistines;
but David
became exhausted.
Then Ishbi-benob,
a descendant
of Rapha,
whose bronze
spear
weighed
three
hundred
shekels
and who
was bearing
a new sword,
resolved
to kill
David.
But Abishai
son
of Zeruiah
came to his aid,
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 the lamp
of Israel
may not
be extinguished."
Some time later,
there was
another
battle
with
the Philistines
at Gob.
At that time
Sibbecai
the Hushathite
killed
Saph,
one
of the descendants
of Rapha.
Once again
there was
a battle
with
the Philistines
at Gob,
and Elhanan
son
of Jair
the Bethlehemite
killed
the brother of Goliath
the Gittite,
the shaft
of whose spear
was like a weaver’s
beam.
And there was
still another
battle
at Gath,
where there was a man
of
great stature
with
six
fingers
on each hand
and six
toes
on each foot—
twenty-four
in all.
He
too
was descended
from Rapha,