2Sa 21 | NASB1995 | STEP | Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years , year after year ; and David 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 Samuel 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 ^cthe sons of Israel ^{▼▼ Lit had sworn to}made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to ^{▼▼ Lit smite}kill 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 ^fthe inheritance of the Lord?” 4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, ^g“We 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, ^h“The man who consumed us and who planned ^{▼▼ Lit against us that we should be exterminated}to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel, 6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will ^{▼▼ Lit expose them}hang them ^kbefore the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, ^lthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared ^mMephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, ⁿbecause 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 ^oRizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of ^{▼▼ So Gr and Heb mss
,} ^qMerab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the ^rMeholathite. 9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they ^{▼▼ Lit exposed them}hanged 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 ^tthe beginning of barley harvest.

10 ^uAnd Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until ^{▼▼ Lit water was poured}it rained on them from the sky; and ^wshe ^{▼▼ Lit gave}allowed 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 ^ythe 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 ^zBeth-shan, ^aawhere the Philistines had hanged them on the day ^abthe 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 ^{▼▼ Lit exposed}hanged. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in ^adZela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that ^aeGod was moved by prayer for the land.

15 Now when ^afthe 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 ^agamong the descendants of the ^{▼▼ Heb Raphah}giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, ^{▼▼ Lit and he was}was girded with a new sword, and he ^{▼▼ Lit said}intended to kill David. 17 But ^akAbishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, ^al“You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish ^amthe lamp of Israel.”

18 ^anNow it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then ^aoSibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the ^{▼▼ Heb Raphah}giant. 19 There was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite ^{▼▼ Lit smote}killed ^{▼▼ In 1 Chr 20:5, Lahmi, the brother of Goliath}Goliath the Gittite, ^asthe 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 ^atto the ^{▼▼ Heb Raphah}giant. 21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 22 ^avThese four were born to the ^{▼▼ Heb Raphah}giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.