2 Samuel 21:1–22

¹Now there came to be a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David proceeded to consult the face of Jehovah. Then Jehovah said: “Upon Saul and upon his house there is bloodguilt, because he put the Gib′e‧on‧ites to death.”²So the king called the Gib′e‧on‧ites and talked to them. (Incidentally, the Gib′e‧on‧ites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remainder of the Am′or‧ites; and the sons of Israel themselves had sworn to them, but Saul sought to strike them down in his feeling jealous for the sons of Israel and Judah.)³And David went on to say to the Gib′e‧on‧ites: “What shall I do to ​YOU, and with what shall I make atonement, that ​YOU​ may certainly bless the inheritance of Jehovah?”⁴So the Gib′e‧on‧ites said to him: “It is not a matter of silver or gold for us in connection with Saul and his household, neither is it ours to put a man to death in Israel.” At that he said: “Whatever ​YOU​ are saying I shall do for ​YOU.”⁵At this they said to the king: “The man that exterminated us and that schemed to annihilate us from subsisting in any of the territory of Israel,⁶let there be given to us seven men of his sons; and we must expose them to Jehovah in Gib′e‧ah of Saul, the chosen one of Jehovah.” Accordingly the king said: “I myself shall give them.”

⁷However, the king felt compassion upon Me‧phib′o‧sheth the son of Jon′a‧than the son of Saul on account of the oath of Jehovah that was between them, between David and Jon′a‧than the son of Saul.⁸Consequently the king took the two sons of Riz′pah the daughter of A′iah whom she bore to Saul, Ar‧mo′ni and Me‧phib′o‧sheth, and the five sons of Mi′chal the daughter of Saul whom she bore to A′dri‧el the son of Bar‧zil′lai the Me‧hol′ath‧ite.⁹Then he gave them into the hand of the Gib′e‧on‧ites and they proceeded to expose them on the mountain before Jehovah, so that the seven of them fell together; and they themselves were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the start of the barley harvest.¹⁰However, Riz′pah the daughter of A′iah took sackcloth and spread it for herself upon the rock from the start of harvest until water poured down upon them from the heavens; and she did not allow the fowls of the heavens to rest upon them by day nor the wild beasts of the field by night.

¹¹At length it was reported to David what Riz′pah the daughter of A′iah, Saul’s concubine, had done.¹²So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jon′a‧than his son from the landowners of Ja′besh‐gil′e‧ad, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth‐shan, where the Phi‧lis′tines had hanged them on the day that the Phi‧lis′tines struck down Saul on Gil‧bo′a.¹³And he proceeded to bring up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jon′a‧than his son; furthermore, they gathered the bones of the men being exposed.¹⁴Then they buried the bones of Saul and of Jon′a‧than his son in the land of Benjamin in Ze′la in the burial place of Kish his father, that they might do everything that the king had commanded. So God let himself be entreated for the land after this.

¹⁵And the Phi‧lis′tines came to have war again with Israel. Accordingly David and his servants with him went down and fought the Phi‧lis′tines; and David grew tired.¹⁶And Ish′bi‐be′nob, who was among those born of the Reph′a‧im, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of copper and who was girded with a new sword, got to think of striking David down.¹⁷At once A‧bish′ai the son of Ze‧ru′iah came to his help and struck the Phi‧lis′tine down and put him to death. At that time the men of David swore to him, saying: “You must not go out with us to the battle anymore, that you may not extinguish the lamp of Israel!”

¹⁸And it came about after this that war arose once more with the Phi‧lis′tines at Gob. Then it was that Sib′be‧cai the Hu′shath‧ite struck down Saph, who was among those born of the Reph′a‧im.

¹⁹And war arose once again with the Phi‧lis′tines at Gob, and El‧ha′nan the son of Ja′a‧re‐or′e‧gim the Beth′le‧hem‧ite got to strike down Go‧li′ath the Git′tite, the shaft of whose spear was like the beam of loom workers.

²⁰And war arose yet again at Gath, when there happened to be a man of extraordinary size, with six fingers on each of his hands and six toes on each of his feet, twenty‐four in number; and he too had been born to the Reph′a‧im.²¹And he kept taunting Israel. Finally Jon′a‧than the son of Shim′e‧i, David’s brother, struck him down.

²²These four had been born to the Reph′a‧im in Gath; and they came to fall by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.