1And there was a famine in the days of David three years , year after year ; and David sought the face of Jehovah . And Jehovah said, It is for Saul , and for his bloody house , because he put to death the Gibeonites . 2And 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 for the children of Israel and Judah ); 3and David said unto the Gibeonites , What shall I do for you ? and wherewith shall I make atonement , that ye may bless the inheritance of Jehovah ? 4And the Gibeonites said unto him , It is no 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 ye shall say , that will I do for you . 5And they said unto the king , The man that consumed us , and that devised against us , that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel , 6let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us , and we will hang them up unto Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul , the chosen of Jehovah . And the king said, I will give them .
The Execution of Saul's Descendants
7But the king spared Mephibosheth , the son of Jonathan the son of Saul , because of Jehovah ’s oath that was between them , between David and Jonathan the son of Saul . 8But 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 bare to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite : 9and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites , and they hanged them in the mountain before Jehovah , and they fell all seven together . And they were put to death in the days of harvest , in the first days , at the beginning of barley harvest .
The Burial of the Remains
10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth , and spread it for her upon the rock , from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven ; and she suffered neither the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day , nor the beasts of the field by night . 11And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul , had done . 12And 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 Beth-shan , where the Philistines had hanged them , in the day that the Philistines slew Saul in Gilboa ; 13and 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 . 14And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela , in the sepulchre of Kish his father : and they performed all that the king commanded . And after that God was entreated for the land.
David's Mighty Men
15And the Philistines had war again with Israel ; and David went down , and his servants with him , and fought against the Philistines . And David waxed faint ; 16and Ishbi-benob , who was of the sons of the giant , the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight , he being girded with a new sword , thought to have slain David . 17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succored 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 lamp of Israel . 18And it came to pass after this , that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob : then Sibbecai the Hushathite slew Saph , who was of the sons of the giant . 19And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob ; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite , the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam . 20And there was again war at 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 . 21And when he defied Israel , Jonathan the son of Shimei , David ’s brother, slew him . 22These four were born to the giant in Gath ; and they fell by the hand of David , and by the hand of his servants .