2 Samuel 21

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

1While David was king, there was no food for three years in a row. Crops failed year after year. David asked the LORD why. The LORD said, "It is because of Saul and his family. Saul killed the people of Gibeon."

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 to the children of Israel and Judah.)

2So King David called the people of Gibeon and talked with them. The Gibeonites were not Israelites. They were the last of a people called the Amorites. Long ago Israel had made a solemn promise to let them live. But Saul had tried to kill them, because he cared only for Israel and Judah.

3Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?

3David asked them, "What can I do for you? How can I make this wrong right? Then you can ask God to bless the people who belong to him."

4And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

4The Gibeonites said, "We do not want silver or gold from Saul's family. And we may not just kill any man in Israel." David said, "Tell me what you want, and I will do it."

5And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

5They said to the king, "Saul was the man who destroyed us. He made a plan to wipe us out so none of us would be left anywhere in Israel.

6Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

6So give us seven men from his family. We will hang them before the LORD at Gibeah, Saul's own town. Saul was the man the LORD once chose to be 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 the LORD’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

7But the king kept Mephibosheth safe. He was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Saul. David saved him because of the promise he and Jonathan had made before the LORD.

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 brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

8The king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons Rizpah had borne to Saul. Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah. He also took five sons of Saul's daughter, whom she had raised for Adriel. Adriel was the son of Barzillai from Meholah.

NoteThe KJV says "Michal" here, but other old copies say Merab, and Merab was the daughter of Saul who was given to Adriel. The KJV words "brought up" mean raised or brought up as her children.

9And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

9He handed the seven men over to the Gibeonites. They hanged them on the hill before the LORD. All seven died together. It happened at the start of harvest time, when the barley was first cut.

10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

10Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took rough cloth and spread it on a rock. She stayed there from the start of harvest until rain fell from the sky. She would not let birds land on the bodies by day. She would not let wild animals near them by night.

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

11Someone told David what Rizpah had done. She had been one of Saul's wives, but with a lower place in his house.

12And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

12Then David went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. He got them from the men of Jabesh-gilead. Those men had taken the bodies from the town square of Beth-shan. The Philistines had hung them there after they killed Saul at Mount 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 his son Jonathan back from that place. They also gathered the bones of the seven men who had been hanged.

14And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, at a town called Zelah. They laid them in the grave of Kish, Saul's father. They did everything the king had told them to do. After that, God answered the prayers for the land.

15Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.

15Later the Philistines went to war against Israel again. David and his men went down and fought them. But David grew very tired and weak.

16And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

16A Philistine named Ishbi-benob came from a family of giants. The metal head of his spear weighed about eight pounds. He carried a new sword, and he meant to kill David.

Note"Three hundred shekels of brass" is a weight of bronze, about eight pounds. The KJV word "brass" means bronze, not the yellow metal we call brass today.

17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured 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 light of Israel.

17But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, came to help David. He struck that Philistine down and killed him. Then David's men made him promise something. They said, "You must never go out to battle with us again. You are the lamp of Israel, and your light must not go out."

Note"Succoured" is an old word that means came to help. "That thou quench not the light of Israel" is a picture: David's men did not want him killed, leaving Israel dark.

18And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.

18Some time later there was another battle with the Philistines at a place called Gob. There Sibbechai from Hushah killed Saph, another man from the family of giants.

19And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

19There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. Elhanan, the son of Jaare-oregim from Bethlehem, killed the brother of Goliath from Gath. The pole of that man's spear was as thick as a heavy bar on a weaving machine.

20And there was yet a battle in 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.

20There was still another battle, this one at Gath. A very big man was there. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. That is twenty-four in all. He also came from the family of giants.

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

21He made fun of Israel and dared them to fight. So Jonathan killed him. Jonathan was the son of Shimeah, who was David's brother.

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

22These four men all came from the giant of Gath. David and his men killed every one of them.