1 ¶ Now there was a three year famine during David’s reign, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD replied, It is because of Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

2 Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but were a remnant of the Amorites; for the children of Israel had sworn to spare them: yet Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah. So the king called the Gibeonites, and spoke to them;

3 And David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and in what way should I make atonement, that you may bless the LORD’S inheritance?

4 And the Gibeonites said to him, We do not want silver and gold from Saul, or from his family; nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us. And David said, Whatever you ask, I will do for you.

5 So they said to the king, The man who destroyed us, and planned to prevent us from remaining in any of the territory of Israel,

6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the LORD’S chosen. 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 LORD’S oath that was between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hung them on the hill before the LORD: and all seven perished together, and they were put to death during the first days of the 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 rain fell on them, and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them during the day, or the beasts of the field during the night.

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

12 Then David went and got the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, who had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hung them, when the Philistines had killed Saul in Gilboa:

13 And he brought from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of those who were hung.

14 And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of his father Kish: and they carried out all that the king commanded. And after that God answered prayer for the land.

15 ¶ At a time when the Philistines again had war with Israel; David went down, and his servants with him, and fought with the Philistines: and David grew faint.

16 And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear came to three hundred shekels of brass, having strapped on a new sword, was planning to kill David.

17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David’s aid, and struck down the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you put out the light of Israel.

18 After this, there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob: at that time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, who was a descendant of the giant.

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

20 And there was another battle in Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on every hand, and six toes on every foot, twenty-four altogether; and he was also a descendant of the giant.

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

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