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2 Samuel 21
New American Standard Bible

Gibeonite’s Revenge

21 Now there was (A)a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and (B)David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is because of 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 (C)the sons of Israel had [a]made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to [b]kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). 3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make amends, so that you will bless (D)the inheritance of the Lord?” 4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, “(E)For us it is not a matter of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” Nevertheless David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” 5 So they said to the king, “(F)The man who destroyed us and who planned [c]to eliminate us so that we would not exist within any border of Israel— 6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will [d]hang them (G)before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, (H)the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared (I)Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, (J)because 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 (K)Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of [e](L)Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the (M)Meholathite. 9 Then he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they [f]hanged them on 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 (N)the beginning of barley harvest.

10 (O)And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until [g]it rained on them from the sky; and (P)she [h]allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the wild animals by night. 11 When it was reported to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 then David went and took (Q)the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of (R)Beth-shan, (S)where the Philistines had hanged them on the day (T)the Philistines struck and killed Saul in Gilboa. 13 He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who had been [i]hanged. 14 Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in (U)Zela, in the grave of his father Kish; So they did everything that the king commanded, and after that (V)God responded to prayer for the land.

15 Now when (W)the Philistines were at war with Israel again, David went down, and his servants with him; and when they fought against the Philistines, David became weary. 16 Then Ishbi-benob, who was (X)among the descendants of the [j]giant, the weight of whose spear was [k]three hundred shekels of bronze in weight, [l]had strapped on a new sword, and he [m]intended to kill David. 17 But (Y)Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “(Z)You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish (AA)the lamp of Israel.”

18 (AB)Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob; then (AC)Sibbecai the Hushathite struck and killed Saph, who was among the descendants of the [n]giant. 19 And there was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite [o]killed [p]Goliath the Gittite, (AD)the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 And 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 (AE)to the [q]giant. 21 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck and killed him. 22 (AF)These four were born to the [r]giant at Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 21:2 Lit sworn to
  2. 2 Samuel 21:2 Lit strike
  3. 2 Samuel 21:5 Lit against us that we are eliminated from
  4. 2 Samuel 21:6 Or expose them
  5. 2 Samuel 21:8 As in some ancient versions and two Heb mss; MT Michal
  6. 2 Samuel 21:9 Or exposed them
  7. 2 Samuel 21:10 Lit water gushed forth
  8. 2 Samuel 21:10 Lit gave
  9. 2 Samuel 21:13 Or exposed
  10. 2 Samuel 21:16 Heb Raphah
  11. 2 Samuel 21:16 About 9 lb. or 4 kg
  12. 2 Samuel 21:16 Lit and he had strapped
  13. 2 Samuel 21:16 Lit said
  14. 2 Samuel 21:18 Heb Raphah
  15. 2 Samuel 21:19 Lit struck
  16. 2 Samuel 21:19 In 1 Chr 20:5, Lahmi, the brother of Goliath
  17. 2 Samuel 21:20 Heb Raphah
  18. 2 Samuel 21:22 Heb Raphah
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2 Samuel 21
Common English Bible

Avenging the Gibeonites

21 There was a famine for three years in a row during David’s rule. David asked the Lord about this, and the Lord said, “It is caused by Saul and his household, who are guilty of bloodshed because he killed the people of Gibeon.” 2 So the king called for the Gibeonites and spoke to them.

(Now the Gibeonites weren’t Israelites but were survivors of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn a solemn pledge to spare them, but Saul tried to eliminate them in his enthusiasm for the people of Israel and Judah.)

3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you? How can I fix matters so you can benefit from the Lord’s inheritance?”

4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We don’t want any silver or gold from Saul or his family, and it isn’t our right to have anyone in Israel killed.”

“What do you want?”[a] David asked. “I’ll do it for you.”

5 “Okay then,” they said to the king. “That man who opposed and oppressed[b] us, who planned to destroy us, keeping us from having a place to live anywhere in Israel— 6 hand over seven of his sons to us, and we will hang them before the Lord at Gibeon[c] on the Lord’s mountain.”

“I will hand them over,” the king said.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson, because of the Lord’s solemn pledge that was between them—between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8 So the king took the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, whom she had birthed for Saul; and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,[d] whom she birthed for Adriel, Barzillai’s son, who was from Meholah, 9 and he handed them over to the Gibeonites. They hanged them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them died at the same time. They were executed in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

10 Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took funeral clothing and spread it out by herself on a rock. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rains poured down on the bodies from the sky, and she wouldn’t let any birds of prey land on the bodies during the day or let wild animals come at nighttime. 11 When David was told what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s secondary wife, had done, 12 he went and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen the bones from the public square in Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa. 13 David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there and collected the bones of the men who had been hanged by the Gibeonites. 14 The bones of Saul and his son Jonathan were then buried in Zela, in Benjaminite territory, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. Once everything the king had commanded was done, God responded to prayers for the land.

War with the Philistines

15 Once again war broke out between the Philistines and Israel. David and the soldiers who were with him went down and fought the Philistines. When David grew tired, 16 Ishbi-benob, a descendant of the Raphah,[e] planned on killing David.[f] The weight of his spear was three hundred shekels of bronze, and he was wearing new armor. 17 But Zeruiah’s son Abishai came to David’s aid, striking the Philistine down and killing him. Then David’s men swore a solemn pledge to him: “You will never march out to battle with us again! You must not snuff out Israel’s lamp!”

18 Some time later, another battle with the Philistines took place at Gob. Then Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, a descendant of the Raphah. 19 There was yet another battle with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan, Jair’s son[g] from Bethlehem, killed Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was as strong as the bar on a weaver’s loom. 20 In another battle at Gath, there was a huge[h] man who had six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet, twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Raphah. 21 When he insulted Israel, Jonathan, who was the son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him. 22 These four Philistines were descended from the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hands of David and his servants.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 21:4 LXXL, OL; MT What are you saying?
  2. 2 Samuel 21:5 LXXB; MT annihilated us
  3. 2 Samuel 21:6 Correction; cf LXX and 21:9; MT at Gibeah of Saul, the Lord’s chosen one
  4. 2 Samuel 21:8 LXXLN; MT Michal (but cf 2 Sam 6:23)
  5. 2 Samuel 21:16 Or giants; also in 21:18, 20, 22
  6. 2 Samuel 21:16 LXX Joash’s son Dodo, a descendant of the Raphah (see previous note), captured David.
  7. 2 Samuel 21:19 See 1 Chron 20:5, LXXLMN (cf 2 Sam 23:24); Heb Jaare-oregim.
  8. 2 Samuel 21:20 See 1 Chron 20:6; MT a Midianite or a combative man.
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