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¹ THEN there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered. It is because of Saul and because of his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.² So the king called the Gibeonites and said to 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 to them, and Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal to cause the children of Israel and Judah to sin),³ Wherefore David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make an atonement to you, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?⁴ And the Gibeonites said to him, It is not silver and gold that Saul and his house owe us; neither do we wish to kill any one in Israel. And he said to them, Whatever you shall say, that will I do for you.⁵ And they said to the king, The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us so that we should not remain in all the territory of Israel,⁶ Let seven of his sons be delivered to us, and we will sacrifice them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul. 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 LORDS oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.⁸ But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Ana, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Nadab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Azriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;⁹ And he delivered them to the Gibeonites, and they sacrificed them in the mountain before the LORD; and they fell all seven together, and were slain in the first days of harvest, in the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰ And Rizpah the daughter of Aria took sackcloth and spread it under her upon the rock, from the beginning of the harvest until water dropped upon them from the heaven, and she did not let the birds of the air rest upon the bodies by day nor the wild beasts of the field by night.¹¹ And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Ana, the concubine of Saul, had done.¹² And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from Rehab of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines slew Saul in the mountain of Gilboa;¹³ And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of those who were slain;¹⁴ And they buried the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in Zelzah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after that God was reconciled toward the land.

¹⁵ Moreover the Philistines were again at war with Israel; and David went down and his servants with him to fight against the Philistines;¹⁶ But David, Joab, and Abishai were afraid of a giant, the weight of whose breastplate was three hundred shekels of brass, and who was girded with a new sword, and had threatened to slay David.¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zoriah succored him and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then the servants of David swore to him, saying, You shall go out no more with us to battle, that you may not quench the lamp of Israel.¹⁸ And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gath; then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saphar, who was of the sons of the giants.¹⁹ And there was again war between Israel and the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Malap a weaver, a Beth-lehemite, slew a brother of Goliath the Philistine, the staff of whose spear was like a weavers beam.²⁰ And there was again war in Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had on each hand six fingers and on each foot six toes, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giants.²¹ And when he had defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him.²² These four were born to the giants in Gath, and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.