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
1Once during David's reign there was a famine for three years in a row, and David asked the Lord about it. The Lord replied, “It's because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
2David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. The Gibeonites were not Israelites, but what was left of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to them,#21:2. See Joshua 3. but in his nationalistic passion for the Israelites and Judah, Saul had tried to wipe them out.
3“What can I do for you?” David asked the Gibeonites. “How can I compensate you so that you may bless the Lord's people?”
4“This isn't a question of us receiving payment in silver or gold from Saul or his family,” the Gibeonites replied. “In addition we don't have the right to have anyone in Israel put to death for us.”
“I'll do whatever you ask,” David answered.
5They replied, “Regarding the man who destroyed us, who planned to prevent us having any place to live in the whole country of Israel, 6have seven of Saul's male descendants be handed over to us, and we will hang them in the presence of the Lord at Gibeon of Saul, the Lord's chosen one.”
“I will hand them over to you,” said the king. 7However, the king spared Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath sworn before the Lord between David and Jonathan, son of Saul. 8The king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Merab,#21:8. The Hebrew text reads Michal, but she is identified as childless in 6:23, and Merab is given as the wife of Adriel in 1 Samuel 18:19. the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill in the presence of the Lord. All seven of them died at the same time, executed at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took some sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock.#21:10. Probably both to cover the ground and as a sheet above her to protect her from sun and rain. From the beginning of the harvest until the time the rains came and poured down on the bodies, she kept the birds away from them during the day and the wild animals at night.
11When David heard what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done, 12he retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had taken them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had killed Saul at Gilboa. 13David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought back, and also had the bones of those who had been hanged gathered up. 14They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. Once they finished doing everything the king had ordered, God answered their prayers to end the famine in the land.
15There was war once more between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight the Philistines, and he got worn out. 16Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels, and who was carrying a new sword, said he was going to kill David. 17But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to his rescue, attacked the Philistine, and killed him. Then David's men made him promise, saying, “Don't ever go out with us to battle again, so that the Israel's light isn't snuffed out!”
18Some time after this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. But then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Repha.
19In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan, son of Jair, from Bethlehem, killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite. The shaft of his spear was as thick as a weaver's rod.
20In yet another battle at Gath, there was a gigantic man, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, making twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the giants. 21But when he insulted Israel, Jonathan, son of Shimea, David's brother, killed him. 22These four were the descendants of the giants in Gath, but they were all killed by David and his men.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com