211 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years , year after year ; and David sought the presence of the Lord . And the Lord said , "It is for Saul and his bloody house , because e he put the Gibeonites to death ." 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites , and the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah ). 3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites , "What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord ?" 4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, " We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house , nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel ." And he said , "I will do for you whatever you say ." 5 So they said to the king , " The man who consumed us and who planned to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel , 6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul , the chosen of the Lord ." And the king said , "I will give them." 7 But the king spared Mephibosheth , the son of Jonathan the son of Saul , because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul's son Jonathan . 8 So the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah , Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul , and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul , whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite . 9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites , and they hanged them in the mountain before the Lord , so that the seven of them fell together ; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at the beginning of barley harvest .
10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock , from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky ; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night . 11 When it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah , the concubine of Saul , had done , 12 then David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead e , who had stolen them from the open square of Beth-shan , where e the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa . 13 He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there , and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged . 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela , in the grave of Kish his father ; thus they did all that the king commanded , and after that God was moved by prayer for the land .
15 Now when the Philistines were at war again with Israel , David went down and his servants with him; and as they fought against the Philistines , David became weary . 16 Then Ishbi-benob , who was among the descendants of the giant , the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight , was girded with a new sword, and he intended to kill David . 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying , " You shall not go out again with us to battle , so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel ."
18 Now it came about after this that there was war again with the Philistines at Gob ; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph , who was among the descendants of the giant . 19 There was war with the Philistines again at Gob , and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite , the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam . 20 There was war at Gath again , where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot , twenty-four e in number ; and he also had been born to the giant . 21 When he defied Israel , Jonathan the son of Shimei , David's brother , struck him down . 22 These four were born to the giant in Gath , and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants .
