2 Samuel 21

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.

1During David’s reign, there was a famine that lasted for three years. Year after year it continued, so David prayed to the LORD about it. The LORD said, 'The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murder; he killed 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);

2The Gibeonites were not Israelites, but were survivors of the Amorites. The Israelites had promised to spare them, but Saul had tried to wipe them out in his misplaced enthusiasm for the people of Israel and Judah. King David called them in to talk to them.

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?

3David asked the Gibeonites, 'What can I do for you? How can I make things right so that you will be able to bless the LORD’s people again?'

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.

4The Gibeonites answered, 'Our dispute with Saul and his family isn't about silver or gold. We also don't have the right to put anyone to death in Israel.' David asked, 'What then do you want me to 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,

5They replied to the king, 'The man Saul tried to destroy us and planned to wipe us out so that we would have no place left in all the land 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.

6'Let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us. We will execute them before the LORD at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the LORD’s chosen king.' The king said, 'I will give them to you.'

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.

7The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the grandson of Saul, because of the oath David and Jonathan had made to each other in the LORD's name.

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:

8But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth—the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah whom she had for Saul—and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whom she had for Adriel 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.

9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who executed them on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them died together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

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.

10Rizpah daughter of Aiah took some sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the autumn rains fell from the sky, she stayed there. She did not let the birds touch the bodies by day or the wild animals touch them by night.

11And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

11When David was told what Saul’s concubine, Rizpah daughter of Aiah, 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;

12he went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had taken the bones secretly from the public square of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they killed Saul at 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.

13David brought the bones of Saul and Jonathan from there, and they also gathered up the bones of the seven men who had recently been executed.

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.

14They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul’s father, Kish, at Zela in the territory of Benjamin. They did everything the king commanded. After this, God answered the prayers for the land.

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;

15Once again the Philistines went to war against Israel. David went down with his officials to fight them, and David became very tired.

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.

16A descendant of the giants named Ishbi-benob, whose bronze spearhead weighed about seven and a half pounds and who was wearing a new sword, intended to kill 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.

17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men made him swear an oath, saying, 'You must never go out to battle with us again, so that the lamp of Israel will not be put out.'

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.

18Later on, another battle with the Philistines took place at Gob. At that time, Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was another descendant of the giants.

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.

19In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft as thick as 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.

20In yet another battle at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He was also a descendant of the giants.

21And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, slew him.

21When he mocked Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed 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.

22These four were descendants of the giants in Gath, and they were all killed by David and his men.