“1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year
after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, [It
is] for Saul, and for [his] bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the
Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of
the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul
sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) 3
Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and
wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance
of the LORD? 4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver
nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any
man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, [that] will I do for you.
5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised
against us [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the
coasts of Israel, 6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and
we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, [whom] the LORD
did choose. And the king said, I will give [them]. 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 the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,
whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of
Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of
Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the
Gibeonites, and they hanged them 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 for
her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped
upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to
rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was
told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had
done. 12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of
Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them
from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when
the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: 13 And he brought up from
thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they
gathered the bones of them that were hanged. 14 And the bones of Saul
and Jonathan his son buried they in the country 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 Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David
went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the
Philistines: and David waxed faint. 16 And Ishbibenob, which [was] of
the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear [weighed] three hundred
[shekels] of brass in weight, he being girded with a new [sword],
thought to have slain David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured
him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David
sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle,
that thou quench not the light of Israel. 18 And it came to pass after
this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then
Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which [was] of the sons of the
giant. 19 And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines,
where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew [the brother
of] Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear [was] like a weaver’s
beam. 20 And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of [great]
stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes,
four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. 21 And
when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David
slew him. 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the
hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.” (2 Samuel 21:1-22 AV)
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