2 Samuel 21
21
The Gibeonites Punish Saul’s Family
1During the time David was king, there was a shortage of food that lasted for three years. So David prayed to the Lord.
The Lord answered, “Saul and his family of murderers are the reason for this shortage, because he killed the Gibeonites.” 2(Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were a group of Amorites who were left alive. The Israelites had promised not to hurt the Gibeonites, but Saul had tried to kill them, because he was eager to help the people of Israel and Judah.)
King David called the Gibeonites together and spoke to them. 3He asked, “What can I do for you? How can I make up for the harm done so you can bless the Lord’s people?”
4The Gibeonites said to David, “We cannot demand silver or gold from Saul or his family. And we don’t have the right to kill anyone in Israel.”
Then David asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
5The Gibeonites said, “Saul made plans against us and tried to destroy all our people who are left in the land of Israel. 6So bring seven of his sons to us. Then we will kill them and hang them on stakes 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.” 7But the king protected Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the promise he had made to Jonathan in the Lord’s name. 8The king did take Armoni and Mephibosheth, sons of Rizpah and Saul. (Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah.) And the king took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab. (Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite was the father of Merab’s five sons.) 9David gave these seven sons to the Gibeonites. Then the Gibeonites killed them and hung them on stakes on a hill in the presence of the Lord. All seven sons died together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest season at the beginning of barley harvest.
10Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took the rough cloth that was worn to show sadness 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. During the day she did not let the birds of the sky touch her sons’ bodies, and during the night she did not let the wild animals touch them.
11People told David what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s slave woman, was doing. 12Then 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 them from there.) 13David 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. 14The 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 the land.
Wars with the Philistines
15Again there was war between the Philistines and Israel. David and his men went out to fight the Philistines, but David became tired. 16Ishbi-Benob, one of the sons of Rapha, had a bronze spearhead weighing about seven and one-half pounds and a new sword. He planned to kill David, 17but Abishai son of Zeruiah killed the Philistine and saved David’s life.
Then David’s men made a promise to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle. If you were killed, Israel would lose its greatest leader.”
18Later, at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, another one of the sons of Rapha.
19Later, there was another battle at Gob with the Philistines. Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath. His spear was as large as a weaver’s rod.
20At 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. 21When he challenged Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.
22These four sons of Rapha from Gath were killed by David and his men.
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2 Samuel 21: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
2 Samuel 21
21
2 Samuel 21
1¶ Then there was a famine in the days of David for three consecutive years, and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is because of Saul and because of his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
2And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them: (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).
3Therefore, David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make reconciliation that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
4And the Gibeonites replied unto him, We have no quarrel regarding silver nor gold with Saul, nor with his house; neither do we desire that anyone in Israel should die. And he said unto them, What ye shall say that will I do for you.
5And they answered the king, The man that consumed us and that devised against us, let us destroy him that nothing of him remains in any of the borders of Israel.
6Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will disjoint them, hanging them from a tree, unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
7But 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.
8But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she gave birth unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she had given birth unto Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite;
9and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they disjointed them hanging them from a tree 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 upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water rained upon them out of heaven and allowed neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.
11And it was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12Then David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the men of Jabeshgilead, who had stolen them from the plaza of Bethshan where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa;
13and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son; and they gathered the bones of those that had been disjointed by being hanged from a tree,
14and they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan, his son, in the land 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¶ And the Philistines made war again with Israel; and David went down, and his slaves with him, and fought against the Philistines; and David became weary.
16And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, and the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, was girded with a new sword and had determined to kill David.
17But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, helped David, and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore unto him, saying, From now on thou shalt not go out with us to battle that thou not quench the light of Israel.
18And after this, there was a second war with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbechai, the Hushathite, slew Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.
19And there was another war in Gob with the Philistines where Elhanan, the son of Jaareoregim of Bethlehem, slew Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20And after that there was another war in Gath where there was a man of great stature, that had six fingers on every hand, and six toes on every foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was of the sons of the giant.
21And when he dishonoured Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea, the brother of David, slew him.
22These four were born to the giant in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his slaves.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International