2 Samuel 21
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1One time there was a famine during David's reign that went on for three straight years. David sought the LORD, who said, "Saul and his household are guilty because he executed the Gibeonites."1There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the LORD about it. And the LORD said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
2So the king called together the Gibeonites and conferred with them. Now the Gibeonites weren't part of the nation of Israel, but were the survivors from the Amorites. Although the Israelis had promised to spare them, Saul had started to execute them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.2So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.
3So David asked the Gibeonites, "What am I to do for you? How am I to make atonement so that you will bless the LORD's heritage?"3David asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD’s people again?”
4"We're not looking for mere silver or gold to be paid by Saul or his household to us," the Gibeonites responded to him. "And it's not for us to execute anyone in Israel." In reply, David asked, "So what are you asking me to do for you?"4“Well, money can’t settle this matter between us and the family of Saul,” the Gibeonites replied. “Neither can we demand the life of anyone in Israel.” “What can I do then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”
5They told the king, "The man who consumed us, who planned our destruction—intending to leave us with nothing in the territory of Israel— 5Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel.
6is to have seven of his sons turned over to us. We will hang them in the presence of the LORD at Gibeah, which belonged to Saul, whom the LORD chose." So the king answered, "I will give them."6So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD at Gibeon, on the mountain of the LORD. ” “All right,” the king said, “I will do it.”
7The king exempted Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the promise to the LORD that existed between David and Saul's son Jonathan.7The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the LORD.
8Instead, the king arrested Aiah's daughter Rizpah's two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Barzillai the Meholathite's son Adriel. 8But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah.
9Then he turned them over to the custody of the Gibeonites, who hanged them on the mountain in the presence of the LORD. All seven of them died at the same time. They were executed during the first days of harvest, just as the barley began to be gathered in.9The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the LORD. So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10Then Aiah's daughter Rizpah grabbed some sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock where her children had been hanged from the beginning of harvest until the first rain fell from the sky. She would not allow any scavenger birds to land on them during the day nor the beasts of the field to approach them at night.10Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on 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.
11When David was informed what Rizpah, the daughter of Saul's mistress had done, 11When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,
12David had Saul's bones and the bones of his son Jonathan removed from the custody of certain men from Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square in Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them—that is, back on the day when the Philistines had killed Saul on Mount Gilboa. 12he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. (When the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, the people of Jabesh-gilead stole their bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them.)
13He brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there along with the bones of those who had been hanged, 13So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.
14and they buried Saul's bones and his son Jonathan's bones in the territory of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. After they had done everything that the king commanded, God responded to prayers for the land. 14Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land. Battles against Philistine Giants
15Afterwards, war broke out between the Philistines and Israel, so David went down to fight the Philistines. David became weary, 15Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted.
16and Ishbi-benob, who had been fathered by giants, said he intended to kill David. (His bronze spearhead weighed 300 shekels, and he carried state-of-the-art weaponry.) 16Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants ; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him.
17But Zeruiah's son Abishai came to David's aid, attacked the Philistine, and killed him. After this, David's army told him, "You're not going out anymore with us to battle, so Israel's beacon won't be extinguished!" 17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”
18Sometime later after this incident, there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who had been fathered by giants. 18After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.
19In yet another battle at Gob, Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite's son Elhanan killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear resembled that of a weaver's beam. 19During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!
20Later on, there was another battle at Gath, where there was a very tall man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—24 in number—who had also been fathered by giants. 20In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants.
21When he defied Israel, David's brother Shimeah's son Jonathan killed him. 21But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.
22These four giants, who had been fathered by a giant in Gath, were killed at the hands of David and his servants.22These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
2 Samuel 20
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