The Famine and the Gibeonites
1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is because of Saul and his house of bloodshed, because he killed the Gibeonites.” 2So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites but a remnant of the Amorites, and the Israelites had sworn an oath to them, though Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for Israel and Judah.) 3David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make atonement, so that you will bless Yahweh’s inheritance?” 4The Gibeonites answered him, “We want no silver or gold from Saul or his house, and it is not our place to put anyone in Israel to death.” David said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” 5They said to the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we would be wiped out and have no place anywhere in the territory of Israel — 6let seven of his sons be handed over to us, and we will hang them before Yahweh at Gibeah of Saul, Yahweh’s chosen one.” The king said, “I will hand them over.” 7But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of the oath before Yahweh between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8Instead the king took the two sons Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons Michal daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite, 9and handed them over to the Gibeonites, who hanged them on the mountain before Yahweh. All seven fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Rizpah’s Vigil
10Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of the harvest until the rain poured down on the bodies from the sky. She did not let the birds of the sky settle on them by day, or the wild animals by night. 11David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done. 12So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day they struck down Saul at Gilboa. 13He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of the men who had been hanged. 14They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the territory of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, and did everything the king had commanded. After that, God was moved by prayer for the land.
Battles Against the Philistine Giants
15There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down with his servants to fight against the Philistines, and David grew weary. 16Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giant — his bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels, and he wore a new sword — intended to kill David. 17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine down, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You will never again go out with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel.” 18Some time later, war broke out again with the Philistines at Gob. It was then that Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, one of the descendants of the giant. 19There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam. 20There was still another battle, at Gath, where there was a man of great size with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all; he too was descended from the giant. 21When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, struck him down. 22These four were descendants of the giant in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his servants.
