David Avenges the Gibeonites
And there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is for Saul, and for the house of blood — because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
And the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.)
And 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?”
And the Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold for us with Saul and with his house, and it is not for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
And they said to the king: “The man who consumed us, and who plotted against us so that we were destroyed from standing anywhere within the territory of Israel —
let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them up before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I myself will give them.”
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them — between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.
And the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she had borne to Saul — Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
And he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD; and the seven of them fell together. And they were put to death in the days of harvest, at the first, at the beginning of barley harvest.
And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth and spread it for herself out on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured down on them from the heavens; and she did not allow the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the wild animals of the field by night.
And it was told to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done.
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the masters of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day the Philistines struck down Saul at Gilboa.
And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.
And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after this, God was entreated for the land.
Four Battles against the Philistines
And the Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and they fought the Philistines — and David grew weary.
And Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the Rapha — the weight of his spear was three hundred shekels of bronze, and he was girded with a new sword — said he would strike David down.
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You shall not go out with us to battle again, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel.”
And it was afterward that there was war again with the Philistines, at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of the Rapha.
And there was war again 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 weavers’ beam.
And there was war again at Gath. And there was a man of stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — twenty-four in number; and he too was born to the Rapha.
And he defied Israel; and Jonathan the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, struck him down.
These four were born to the Rapha at Gath; and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.