1And there was a scarcity of food in the days of Dawiḏ for three years, year after year. And Dawiḏ sought the face of יהוה, and יהוה answered, “Because of Sha’ul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Giḇ‛onites.”

2The sovereign therefore called the Giḇ‛onites and spoke to them. Now the Giḇ‛onites were not of the children of Yisra’ĕl, but of the remnant of the Amorites. And the children of Yisra’ĕl had sworn protection to them, but Sha’ul had sought to kill them in his ardour for the children of Yisra’ĕl and Yehuḏah.

3So Dawiḏ said to the Giḇ‛onites, “What should I do for you? And with what do I make atonement, so that you bless the inheritance of יהוה?”

4And the Giḇ‛onites said to him, “It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Sha’ul, or his house, neither is it for us to put to death any man in Yisra’ĕl.” And he said, “Whatever you say I do for you.”

5And they said to the sovereign, “The man who consumed us and plotted against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in all the border of Yisra’ĕl,

6let seven men of his sons be given to us, and we shall hang them before יהוה in Giḇ‛ah of Sha’ul, whom יהוה chose.” And the sovereign said, “I give them.”

7But the sovereign spared Mephiḇosheth son of Yehonathan, son of Sha’ul, because of the oath of יהוה that was between them, between Dawiḏ and Yehonathan son of Sha’ul.

8And the sovereign took the two sons of Ritspah the daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Sha’ul: Armoni and the other Mephiḇosheth, and the five sons of Miḵal the daughter of Sha’ul, whom she brought up for Aḏri’ĕl the son of Barzillai, the Meḥolathite,

9and gave them into the hands of the Giḇ‛onites, and they hanged them on the hill before יהוה. So the seven fell together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

10And Ritspah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured on them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

11And Dawiḏ was informed what Ritspah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Sha’ul, had done.

12And Dawiḏ went and took the bones of Sha’ul, and the bones of Yehonathan his son, from the men of Yaḇĕsh Gil‛aḏ who had stolen them from the street of Bĕyth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Sha’ul in Gilboa.

13And he brought up the bones of Sha’ul and the bones of Yehonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged,

14and buried the bones of Sha’ul and Yehonathan his son in the land of Binyamin in Tsela, in the tomb of Qish his father, and did all that the sovereign commanded. And after that Elohim heard prayer for the land.

15And the Philistines were again fighting against Yisra’ĕl, so Dawiḏ and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines. And Dawiḏ was weary,

16and Yishbo-Benoḇ – who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred pieces, who was bearing a new sword – spoke of killing Dawiḏ.

17But Aḇishai son of Tseruyah came to help him, and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then Dawiḏ’s men swore to him, saying, “Do not go out with us to battle any more, lest you put out the lamp of Yisra’ĕl.”

18And it came to be afterward, that there was a battle again with the Philistines at Goḇ. Then Sibbeḵai the Ḥushathite smote Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant.

19And there was a battle with the Philistines again at Goḇ, where Elḥanan son of Ya‛arĕy-Oreg̅im the Bĕyth Leḥemite smote Golyath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

20And there was a battle in Gath again, where there was a man of great height, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number. And he also was descended from the giants.

21And he reproached Yisra’ĕl, and Yehonathan son of Shim‛i, the brother of Dawiḏ, smote him.

22These four were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of Dawiḏ and by the hand of his servants.