English Standard Version

New Living Translation

David Avenges the Gibeonites

Now 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 Gibeonites to death.”

1

David Avenges the Gibeonites

There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the LORD about it. And the LORD said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”

2

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites 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 strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

2

So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.

3

And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?”

3

David asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD’s people again?”

4

The Gibeonites 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?”

4

“Well, money can’t settle this matter between us and the family of Saul,” the Gibeonites replied. “Neither can we demand the life of anyone in Israel.”
“What can I do then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”

5

They 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,

5

Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel.

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let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

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So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD at Gibeon, on the mountain of the LORD.a”
“All right,” the king said, “I will do it.”

7

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

7

The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth,b who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the LORD.

8

The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Meraba the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

8

But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,c the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah.

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and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, 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.

9

The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the LORD. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.

10

Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah 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.

10

Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night.

11

When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

11

When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

12

David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, 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 Gilboa.

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he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. (When the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, the people of Jabesh-gilead stole their bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them.)

13

And 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.

13

So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.

14

And 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 responded to the plea for the land.

14

Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land.

15

War with the Philistines

There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary.

15

Battles against Philistine Giants

Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted.

16

And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekelsb of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David.

16

Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giantsd; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds,e and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him.

17

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

17

But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”

18

After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.

18

After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.

19

And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.c

19

During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jairf from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath.g The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!

20

And 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.

20

In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge manh with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants.

21

And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down.

21

But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.i

22

These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

22

These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.

Parallel

English Standard Version

New Living Translation

2 Samuel 21

2 Samuel 21