2 Samuel 21

1 There was a famine in the days of David, three years long, year after year; and David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is wrongdoing on Saul and on his house, because of the blood he shed, in that he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 And King David called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites are not sons of Israel; they are what was left of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn an oath to them. But Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.)

3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, so that you will bless the inheritance of the Lord?” 4 And the Gibeonites said to him, “We have no claim of silver or gold against Saul or against his house, and there is no man for us to put to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say? I will do it for you.” [a]

5 And they said to the king, “The man who made an end of us and hunted us down, who plotted to destroy us — let us do away with him, so that he has no standing anywhere in the territory of Israel. 6 Let him give us seven men of his sons, and let us hang them up in the sun to the Lord in Gibeon of Saul, as chosen ones for the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.” [b]

7 But the king spared Memphibosthe son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath by the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8 And the king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul — Armoni and Memphibosthe — and the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite; [c] 9 and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hung them up in the sun on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of the harvest, in the first of them, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

10 And Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of the barley harvest until water dripped on them out of heaven; and she did not let the birds of the sky settle on them by day, nor the wild animals of the field by night. 11 And it was told David all that Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done. And they were worn out, and Dan son of Joa, of the descendants of the giants, overtook them. [e]

12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of the sons of Jabesh of Gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had set them up on the day the Philistines struck Saul down at Gilboa. 13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and he gathered the bones of those who had been hung up in the sun. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and the bones of those who had been hung up in the sun, in the land of Benjamin, on the hillside, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did everything the king commanded. And after that God listened to the land. [f]

15 There was war once more between the Philistines and Israel. And David went down, and his servants with him, and they fought with the Philistines; and David was worn out. [g] 16 And Iesbi, who was among the descendants of Rapha — the weight of his spear was about seven and a half pounds of bronze, and he was strapped with a club — he meant to strike David down. [h] 17 And Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his help, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore an oath, saying, “You will not go out with us to battle any more, and you will not quench the lamp of Israel.”

18 And after this there was war again in Gath with the Philistines. Then Sebocha the Astatothite struck down Seph, who was among the descendants of Rapha. [i] 19 And there was war in Gob with the Philistines. And Eleanan son of Ariorgim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, and the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam. [j]

20 And there was war in Gath yet again. And there was a man of great size, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six and six, twenty-four in number; and he too was born to Rapha. [k] 21 And he defied Israel, and Jonathan son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 22 These four were born in Gath as descendants of the giants, of the house of Rapha, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.