2 Samuel 21

1In the days of David there was a famine for three years in a row, so David sought the presence of the LORD. The LORD said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (The Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were what was left of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to them, but in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah, Saul had tried to wipe them out.) 3David asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make atonement, so that you will bless the inheritance of the LORD?” 4The Gibeonites answered him, “Our claim against Saul and his family is not a matter of silver or gold, and it is not our right to put anyone in Israel to death.” David said, “Then what are you asking me to do for you?” 5They said to the king, “As for the man who nearly wiped us out and plotted against us, so that we have no place left anywhere in the territory of Israel, 6let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us, and we will impale them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the one the LORD chose.” The king said, “I will hand them over.” 7But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD that bound David and Saul’s son Jonathan to each other. 8Instead the king took the two sons Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, together with the five sons Saul’s daughter Michal had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai of Meholah. 9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who impaled them on the mountain before the LORD. All seven of them died together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest. 10Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and laid it out on the rock as a place for herself. From the beginning of the harvest until rain fell on the bodies from the sky, she did not let the birds come down on them by day or the wild animals by night. 11Word reached David of what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done. 12David went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the leading men of Jabesh-gilead. They had carried them off secretly from the open square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up on the day they struck Saul down on Gilboa. 13He brought up from there the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan, and the bones of the men who had been impaled were gathered too. 14They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at Zela in the territory of Benjamin. They did everything the king commanded, and after that God answered prayer for the land.

15Once again there was war between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men, and they fought against the Philistines, and David grew exhausted. 16Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed about 7 1/2 pounds, and who was armed with a new weapon, meant to kill David. 17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s help. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men took an oath before him: “Never again will you go out with us to battle. You must not let the lamp of Israel be put out.”

18After this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. That was when Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of the Rapha.

19There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, from Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, whose spear had a shaft like a weaver’s beam.

20There was another battle at Gath, where there was a man of great size who had six fingers on each of his hands and six toes on each of his feet, twenty-four altogether. He also was descended from the Rapha. 21When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. 22These four were descendants of the Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.