1During the days of David there was a famine for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, “It is for because of Saul, and his bloody house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
2And David called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to spare them: but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had sought to slay them),
3And so David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make the atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”
4And the Gibeonites replied, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul, nor that you kill any of his house; nor any man in Israel”. And David asked, “What you shall say, that will I do for you”.
5And they answered, “Saul was the man who plotted to annihilate us, that there should be none of us remaining within borders of Israel,
6Let seven men of his male descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them up before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose”. And the king said, “I will give them.”
7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
8But the king took the two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth, whom Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, bore to Saul; and the five sons of Michal (Merab), Saul’s daughter, whom she bore to Adriel, son of Barzillai, the Meholathite;
9And David turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD. And all seven they died together, in the first days of harvest, in the beginning of barley harvest.
10And Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth (burlap), and spread it for upon a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night.
11And when it was told David what Rizpah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
12David 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 public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had killed Saul in Gilboa;
13And he brought the bones of Saul and Jonathan up, and then gathered the bones of the seven who were hanged.
14And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulcher (tomb) of Kish, his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after that God answered their prayers for the land.
15Then, once again, the Philistines waged war with Israel; and David, and his men went down, and fought against the Philistines; and David was exhausted.
16And Ishbi-benob, one of the sons of Rapha, the giant whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze (7.5 pounds), and was armed with a new sword, cornered David and was about to kill him.
17But Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to his aid, and struck and killed the Philistine. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Never again shall you go out with us to battle, so that light of Israel is not quenched”.
18And after this, there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai, the Hushathite, killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant.
19And then there was yet another a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan, the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, killed the brother of Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
20And yet another battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, with six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four digits in all; and also was born to the giant.
21And when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, the brother of David, killed him.
22These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, or by his servants. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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