A famine

1Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gib'eonites to death.” 2So the king called the Gib'eonites.21.2 Heb the Gibeonites and said to them Now the Gib'eonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3And David said to the Gib'eonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?” 4The Gib'eonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them up before the LORD at Gibeon on the mountain of the LORD.”21.6 Cn Compare Gk and 21.9: Heb at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD And the king said, “I will give them.”

7But the king spared Mephib'osheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD which was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Ai'ah, whom she bore to Saul, Armo'ni and Mephib'osheth; and the five sons of Merab21.8 Two Hebrew Mss Gk: Heb Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to A'dri-el the son of Barzil'lai the Meho'lathite; 9and he gave them into the hands of the Gib'eonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

10Then Rizpah the daughter of Ai'ah took sackcloth, and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens; and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Ai'ah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Ja'besh-gil'ead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilbo'a; 13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded supplications for the land.

15The Philistines had war again with Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines; and David grew weary. 16And Ish'bi-be'nob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was girded with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17But Abi'shai the son of Zeru'iah came to his aid, and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men adjured him, “You shall no more go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

1821.18-22: 1 Chron 20.4-8.After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; then Sib'becai the Hu'shathite slew Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elha'nan the son of Ja'are-or'egim, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. 20And 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; and he also was descended from the giants. 21And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shim'e-i, David's brother, slew him. 22These four were descended from the giants in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.