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21 Facta est quoque fames in diebus David tribus annis jugiter: et consuluit David oraculum Domini. Dixitque Dominus: Propter Saul, et domum ejus sanguinum, quia occidit Gabaonitas.

Vocatis ergo Gabaonitis rex, dixit ad eos (porro Gabaonitae non erant de filiis Israel, sed reliquiae Amorrhaeorum: filii quippe Israel juraverant eis, et voluit Saul percutere eos zelo, quasi pro filiis Israel et Juda),

dixit ergo David ad Gabaonitas: Quid faciam vobis? et quod erit vestri piaculum, ut benedicatis haereditati Domini?

Dixeruntque ei Gabaonitae: Non est nobis super argento et auro quaestio, sed contra Saul, et contra domum ejus: neque volumus ut interficiatur homo de Israel. Ad quos rex ait: Quid ergo vultis ut faciam vobis?

Qui dixerunt regi: Virum qui attrivit nos et oppressit inique, ita delere debemus, ut ne unus quidem residuus sit de stirpe ejus in cunctis finibus Israel.

Dentur nobis septem viri de filiis ejus, ut crucifigamus eos Domino in Gabaa Saul, quondam electi Domini. Et ait rex: Ego dabo.

Pepercitque rex Miphiboseth filio Jonathae filii Saul, propter jusjurandum Domini quod fuerat inter David et inter Jonathan filium Saul.

Tulit itaque rex duos filios Respha filiae Aja quos peperit Sauli, Armoni, et Miphiboseth: et quinque filios Michol filiae Saul quos genuerat Hadrieli filio Berzellai, qui fuit de Molathi,

et dedit eos in manus Gabaonitarum: qui crucifixerunt eos in monte coram Domino: et ceciderunt hi septem simul occisi in diebus messis primis, incipiente messione hordei.

10 Tollens autem Respha filia Aja cilicium, substravit sibi supra petram ab initio messis, donec stillaret aqua super eos de caelo: et non dimisit aves lacerare eos per diem, neque bestias per noctem.

11 Et nuntiata sunt David quae fecerat Respha filia Aja, concubina Saul.

12 Et abiit David, et tulit ossa Saul, et ossa Jonathae filii ejus, a viris Jabes Galaad, qui furati fuerant ea de platea Bethsan in qua suspenderant eos Philisthiim cum interfecissent Saul in Gelboe:

13 et asportavit inde ossa Saul, et ossa Jonathae filii ejus: et colligentes ossa eorum qui affixi fuerant,

14 sepelierunt ea cum ossibus Saul et Jonathae filii ejus in terra Benjamin, in latere, in sepulchro Cis patris ejus: feceruntque omnia quae praeceperat rex, et repropitiatus est Deus terrae post haec.

15 Factum est autem rursum praelium Philisthinorum adversum Israel, et descendit David, et servi ejus cum eo, et pugnabant contra Philisthiim. Deficiente autem David,

16 Jesbibenob, qui fuit de genere Arapha, cujus ferrum hastae trecentas uncias appendebat, et accinctus erat ense novo, nisus est percutere David.

17 Praesidioque ei fuit Abisai filius Sarviae, et percussum Philisthaeum interfecit. Tunc juraverunt viri David, dicentes: Jam non egredieris nobiscum in bellum, ne extinguas lucernam Israel.

18 Secundum quoque bellum fuit in Gob contra Philisthaeos: tunc percussit Sobochai de Husati, Saph de stirpe Arapha de genere gigantum.

19 Tertium quoque fuit bellum in Gob contra Philisthaeos, in quo percussit Adeodatus filius Saltus polymitarius Bethlehemites Goliath Gethaeum, cujus hastile hastae erat quasi liciatorium texentium.

20 Quartum bellum fuit in Geth: in quo vir fuit excelsus, qui senos in manibus pedibusque habebat digitos, id est, viginti quatuor: et erat de origine Arapha.

21 Et blasphemavit Israel: percussit autem eum Jonathan filius Samaa fratris David.

22 Hi quatuor nati sunt de Arapha in Geth, et ceciderunt in manu David et servorum ejus.

The Gibeonites Avenged

21 During the reign of David, there was a famine(A) for three successive years; so David sought(B) the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

The king summoned the Gibeonites(C) and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.) David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?”(D)

The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.”(E)

“What do you want me to do for you?” David asked.

They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed(F) before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen(G) one.”

So the king said, “I will give them to you.”

The king spared Mephibosheth(H) son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath(I) before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul. But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah,(J) whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,[a] whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.(K) He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the Lord. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death(L) during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.(M)

10 Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.(N) 11 When David was told what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done, 12 he went and took the bones of Saul(O) and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead.(P) (They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth Shan,(Q) where the Philistines had hung(R) them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)(S) 13 David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up.

14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish, at Zela(T) in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that,(U) God answered prayer(V) in behalf of the land.(W)

Wars Against the Philistines(X)

15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines(Y) and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted. 16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels[b] and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David. 17 But Abishai(Z) son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp(AA) of Israel will not be extinguished.(AB)

18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai(AC) the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.

19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair[c] the Bethlehemite killed the brother of[d] Goliath the Gittite,(AD) who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.(AE)

20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 21 When he taunted(AF) Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah,(AG) David’s brother, killed him.

22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 21:8 Two Hebrew manuscripts, some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 1 Samuel 18:19); most Hebrew and Septuagint manuscripts Michal
  2. 2 Samuel 21:16 That is, about 7 1/2 pounds or about 3.5 kilograms
  3. 2 Samuel 21:19 See 1 Chron. 20:5; Hebrew Jaare-Oregim.
  4. 2 Samuel 21:19 See 1 Chron. 20:5; Hebrew does not have the brother of.

21 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

13 And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

15 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.

16 And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.

18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.

19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.

21 And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him.

22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.