¶ Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired² of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is³ for Saul⁴, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the⁵ Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites⁶; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal⁷ to the children of Israel and Judah.)

Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith⁸ shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless⁹ the inheritance of the LORD?

And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will¹⁰ 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.

And they answered the king, The man¹¹ that consumed us, and that devised¹² against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

Let seven¹³ men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang¹⁴ them up unto the LORD in¹⁵ Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose¹⁶. And the king said, I will give them.

But the king spared Mephibosheth¹⁷, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because¹⁸ of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

But the king took the two sons of Rizpah¹⁹ the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons²⁰ of Michal²¹ the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for²² Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD²³: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning²⁴ of barley harvest.

¶ And Rizpah²⁵ the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth²⁶, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the²⁷ beginning of harvest until water²⁸ dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds²⁹ of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

And it was told David³⁰ what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

And David went and took the bones of Saul³¹ and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan³², where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa³⁴:

And 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.

And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried³⁵ they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah³⁶, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

¶ Moreover the Philistines³⁸ had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint³⁹.

And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons⁴⁰ of the giant⁴¹, the weight of whose spear⁴² weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

But Abishai⁴³ the son of Zeruiah succoured⁴⁴ him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt⁴⁵ go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench⁴⁶ not the light⁴⁷ of Israel.

And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai⁴⁸ the Hushathite slew Saph⁴⁹, which was of the sons of the giant⁵⁰.

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan⁵¹ the son of Jaareoregim⁵², a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath⁵³ the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

¶ And there was yet a battle⁵⁴ 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 giant⁵⁵.

And when he defied⁵⁶ Israel, Jonathan⁵⁷ the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.

These four⁶¹ were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by⁶² the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.