Chapter 21

¹And there is a famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David seeketh the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah saith, `For Saul and for the bloody house, because that he put to death the Gibeonites.` ²And the king calleth for the Gibeonites, and saith unto them -- as to the Gibeonites, they [are] not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul seeketh to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah -- ³yea, David saith unto the Gibeonites, `What do I do for you? and with what do I make atonement? and bless ye the inheritance of Jehovah.` ⁴And the Gibeonites say to him, `We have no silver and gold by Saul and by his house, and we have no man to put to death in Israel;` and he saith, `What ye are saying I do to you.` ⁵And they say unto the king, `The man who consumed us, and who devised against us -- we have been destroyed from stationing ourselves in all the border of Israel -- <sup>6</sup>let there be given to us seven men of his sons, and we have hanged them before Jehovah, in the height of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah.` And the king saith, `I do give;` ⁷and the king hath pity on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath of Jehovah that [is] between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul; ⁸and the king taketh the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul whom she bare to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite, ⁹and giveth them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hang them in the hill before Jehovah; and the seven fall together, and they have been put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], the commencement of barley-harvest. ¹⁰And Rizpah daughter of Aiah taketh the sackcloth, and stretcheth it out for herself on the rock, from the commencement of harvest till water hath been poured out upon them from the heavens, and hath not suffered a fowl of the heavens to rest upon them by day, or the beast of the field by night. ¹¹And it is declared to David that which Rizpah daughter of Aiah, concubine of Saul, hath done, ¹²and David goeth and taketh the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the possessors of Jabesh-Gilead, who had stolen them from the broad place of Beth-Shan, where the Philistines hanged them, in the day of the Philistines smiting Saul in Gilboa; ¹³and he bringeth up thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gather the bones of those hanged, ¹⁴and bury the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the burying-place of Kish his father, and do all that the king commanded, and God is entreated for the land afterwards. ¹⁵And again have the Philistines war with Israel, and David goeth down, and his servants with him, and they fight with the Philistines; and David is weary, ¹⁶and Ishbi-Benob, who [is] among the children of the giant -- the weight of his spear [is] three hundred [shekels] weight of brass, and he is girded with a new one -- speaketh of smiting David, ¹⁷and Abishai son of Zeruiah giveth help to him, and smiteth the Philistine, and putteth him to death; then swear the men of David to him, saying, `Thou dost not go out again with us to battle, nor quench the lamp of Israel.` ¹⁸And it cometh to pass afterwards, that the battle is again in Gob with the Philistines, then hath Sibbechai the Hushathite smitten Saph, who [is] among the children of the giant. ¹⁹And the battle is again in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim, the Beth-Lehemite, smiteth [a brother of] Goliath the Gittite, and the wood of his spear [is] like a beam of weavers. ²⁰And the battle is again in Gath, and there is a man of stature, and the fingers of his hands [are] six, and the toes of his feet [are] six, twenty and four in number, and he also hath been born to the giant, ²¹and he reproacheth Israel, and smite him doth Jonathan son of Shimeah, brother of David; ²²these four have been born to the giant in Gath, and they fall by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.