2 Samuel 21
Living Bible
21 There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted year after year for three years, and David spent much time in prayer about it. Then the Lord said, “The famine is because of the guilt of Saul and his family, for they murdered the Gibeonites.”
2 So King David summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were what was left of the nation of the Amorites. Israel had sworn not to kill them; but Saul, in his nationalistic zeal, had tried to wipe them out.
3 David asked them, “What can I do for you to rid ourselves of this guilt and to induce you to ask God to bless us?”
4 “Well, money won’t do it,” the Gibeonites replied, “and we don’t want to see Israelites executed in revenge.”
“What can I do, then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”
5-6 “Well, then,” they replied, “give us seven of Saul’s sons—the sons of the man who did his best to destroy us. We will hang them before the Lord in Gibeon, the city of King Saul.”
“All right,” the king said, “I will do it.”
7 He spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath between himself and Jonathan. 8 But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five adopted sons of Michal that she brought up for Saul’s daughter Merab, the wife of Adriel. 9 The men of Gibeon impaled them in the mountain before the Lord. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah, the mother of two of the men,[a] spread sackcloth upon a rock and stayed there through the entire harvest season to prevent the vultures from tearing at their bodies during the day and the wild animals from eating them at night. 11 When David learned what she had done, 12-14 he arranged for the men’s bones to be buried in the grave of Saul’s father, Kish. At the same time he sent a request to the men of Jabesh-gilead, asking them to bring him the bones of Saul and Jonathan. They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth-shan where the Philistines had impaled them after they had died in battle on Mount Gilboa. So their bones were brought to him. Then at last God answered prayer and ended the famine.
15 Once when the Philistines were at war with Israel, and David and his men were in the thick of the battle, David became weak and exhausted. 16 Ishbi-benob, a giant whose speartip weighed more than twelve pounds and who was sporting a new suit of armor, closed in on David and was about to kill him. 17 But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to his rescue and killed the Philistine. After that David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle again! Why should we risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”
18 Later, during a war with the Philistines at Gob, Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, another giant. 19 At still another time and at the same place, Elhanan killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite,[b] whose spear handle was as huge as a weaver’s beam! 20-21 And once when the Philistines and the Israelis were fighting at Gath, a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot defied Israel, and David’s nephew Jonathan—the son of David’s brother Shimei—killed him. 22 These four were from the tribe of giants in Gath and were killed by David’s troops.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 21:10 the mother of two of the men, implied. the entire harvest season, which lasted six months, from April until October.
- 2 Samuel 21:19 the brother of Goliath the Gittite, literally, “slew Goliath of Gath.” See 1 Chronicles 20:5.
2 Samuel 21
Expanded Bible
The Gibeonites Punish Saul’s Family
21 During the time David was king, there was a ·shortage of food [famine] that lasted for three years. So David ·prayed to [inquired of; consulted; L sought the face/presence of] the Lord.
The Lord answered, “Saul and his ·family of murderers [L bloody house] are the reason for this shortage, because he ·killed [murdered] the Gibeonites.” 2 (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were ·a group of Amorites who were left alive [L the remnant of the Amorites]. The Israelites had ·promised [sworn; vowed; Josh. 9:14–15] not to hurt the Gibeonites, but Saul had tried to ·kill [annihilate; exterminate] them, because ·he was eager to help [of his zeal for] the people of Israel and Judah.)
King David called the Gibeonites together and spoke to them. 3 He asked, “What can I do for you? How can I make ·up [amends; expiation; atonement] for the harm done so you can bless the Lord’s ·people [L inheritance]?”
4 The Gibeonites said to David, “We cannot ·demand [settle this with] silver or gold from Saul or his ·family [L house]. And ·we don’t have the right [L it’s not for us] to kill anyone in Israel.”
Then David asked, “·What do you want me to do for you [Tell me what to do and I will do it]?”
5 The Gibeonites said, “·Saul [L The man] ·made plans against [destroyed; consumed] us and ·tried to destroy [planned to annihilate/exterminate] all our people ·who are [so we would have no place] left in the land of Israel. 6 So bring seven of his sons to us. Then we will ·kill them and hang them on stakes [impale/execute them] in the presence of the Lord at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord’s chosen king.”
The king said, “I will give them to you.” 7 But the king ·protected [spared] Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the ·promise [oath] he had made to Jonathan in the Lord’s name [1 Sam. 20:14–17]. 8 The king did take Armoni and Mephibosheth [C not Jonathan’s son, but another person with the same name], sons of Rizpah and Saul [3:7]. (Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah.) And the king took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab [1 Sam. 14:49; 18:17–19]. (Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite was the father of Merab’s five sons.) 9 David gave these seven sons to the Gibeonites. Then the Gibeonites ·killed them and hung them on stakes on a hill [impaled/executed them] in the presence of the Lord. All seven sons ·died [fell] together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest season at the beginning of barley harvest.
10 Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took ·the rough cloth [burlap; sackcloth; C a sign of mourning or distress] and put it on a rock for herself. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on ·her sons’ bodies [L them from the heavens/sky]. During the day she did not let the ·birds of the sky [scavenger birds] touch her sons’ bodies, and during the night she did not let the wild animals touch them.
11 People told David what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s ·slave woman [L concubine; C a secondary wife; 3:7], was doing. 12 Then David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. (The Philistines had hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan in the public square of Beth Shan after they had killed Saul at Gilboa. Later the men of Jabesh Gilead ·had secretly taken [stole] them from there [1 Sam. 31:8–13].) 13 David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from Gilead. Then the people gathered the ·bodies of Saul’s seven sons who were hanged on stakes [bones of those who had been impaled/executed]. 14 The people buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. The people did everything the king commanded.
Then God ·answered the prayers for [took pity on] the land.
Wars with the Philistines(A)
15 Again there was war between the Philistines and Israel. David and his ·men [servants] went out to fight the Philistines, ·but [and] David ·became tired [grew weary/exhausted]. 16 Ishbi-Benob, one of the ·sons of Rapha [or descendants of the giants], had a bronze ·spearhead [spear] weighing ·about seven and one-half pounds [L three hundred shekels] and [L was armed with] a new sword. He ·planned [was about] to kill David, 17 but Abishai son of Zeruiah ·killed the Philistine and saved David’s life [L came to help him and struck down the Philistine].
Then David’s men ·made a promise [swore; vowed] to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle. ·If you were killed, Israel would lose its greatest leader [L …so that you do not extinguish the lamp/light of Israel].”
18 Later, at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, another ·one of the sons of Rapha [or descendant of the giants].
19 Later, there was another battle at Gob with the Philistines. Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath [C see 1 Chr. 20:5 where he is called Lahmi, the brother of Goliath]. His spear was as large as a weaver’s ·rod [beam].
20 At Gath another battle took place. A huge man was there; he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four fingers and toes in all. This man also was ·one of the sons of Rapha [or descended from the giants]. 21 When he ·challenged [defied; taunted] Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.
22 These four ·sons of Rapha [or descendants of giants] from Gath were killed by David and his ·men [L servants].
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.