New Living Translation

New King James Version

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.”

1

David Avenges the Gibeonites

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his [a]bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

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.

2

So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.

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

3

Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?”

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.”

4

And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.”
So he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

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.

5

Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel,

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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.”

6

let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.”
And the king said, “I will give them.”

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.

7

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.

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.

8

So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, and the five sons of [b]Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she [c]brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

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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.

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and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So 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

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.

10

Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

11

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

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

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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.)

12

Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of [d]Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa.

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

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So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.

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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.

14

They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land.

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.

15

Philistine Giants Destroyed

When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint.

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.

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Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of [e]the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David.

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?”

17

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

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.

18

Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed [f]Saph, who was one of the sons of [g]the giant.

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!

19

Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of [h]Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

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.

20

Yet again there was 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 born to [i]the giant.

21

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

21

So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of [j]Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

22

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

22

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

Parallel

New Living Translation

New King James Version

2 Samuel 21

2 Samuel 21