2 Samuel 21

¹ There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. David sought the face of the LORD, and the LORD said, "It is because of Saul and his house of blood, 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 people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn an oath to them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

³ David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? How can I make atonement so that you will bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

⁴ The Gibeonites said to him, "It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel." He said, "Whatever you say, I will do for you."

⁵ They said to the king, "The man who consumed us and who planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel—

⁶ "let seven of his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD." The king said, "I will give them."

⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

⁸ The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul—Armoni and Mephibosheth—and the five sons of Merab daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

⁹ He gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD. The seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

¹⁰ Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain poured down on them from heaven. She did not allow the birds of the sky to rest on them by day or the wild animals by night.

¹¹ When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done,

¹² David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day the Philistines struck Saul down at Gilboa.

¹³ He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.

¹⁴ They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.

¹⁵ The Philistines again had war with Israel. David went down with his servants and fought against the Philistines, and David grew exhausted.

¹⁶ Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the Raphah—the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels—and who was armed with a new weapon, said he would strike David down.

¹⁷ But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, saying, "You must never again go out with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel."

¹⁸ After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the Raphah.

¹⁹ There was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

²⁰ 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. He too was descended from the Raphah.

²¹ When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, struck him down.

²² These four were descended from the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.