2 Samuel 21
21
2 Samuel 21
David Avenges the Gibeonites
1Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord. The Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2#Josh 9.3, 15–17So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.) 3#2 Sam 20.19David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make expiation, that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?” 4#Num 35.31, 32The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” He said, “What do you say that I should do for you?” 5#1 Sam 10.24, 26They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6let seven of his sons be handed over to us, and we will impale them before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord.”#21.6 Cn Compare: Heb at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord The king said, “I will hand them over.”
7 #
1 Sam 18.3; 20.8, 15; 23.18; 2 Sam 4.4; 9.10 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8#2 Sam 3.7The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab#21.8 Heb mss Syr Compare Gk: MT Michal daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before the Lord. The seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.
10 #
v 8
; Deut 21.23; 1 Sam 17.44, 46Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it on a rock for herself, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell on them from the heavens; she did not allow the birds of the air to come on the bodies#21.10 Heb them by day or the wild animals by night. 11When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12#1 Sam 31.10–13David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the people of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan, and they gathered the bones of those who had been impaled. 14#Josh 7.26; 18.28; 2 Sam 24.25They buried the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of his father Kish; they did all that the king commanded. After that, God heeded supplications for the land.
Exploits of David’s Men
15The Philistines went to war again with Israel, and David went down together with his servants. They fought against the Philistines, and David grew weary. 16Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze and who was fitted out with new weapons,#21.16 Heb was belted anew said he would kill David. 17#2 Sam 6.17; 18.3But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall not go out with us to battle any longer, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel.”
18 #
1 Chr 11.29; 20.4 After this a battle took place with the Philistines at Gob; then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19#1 Chr 20.5Then there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great size who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; he, too, was descended from the giants.#21.20 Gk: Heb from the Raphah 21When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of David’s brother Shimei killed him. 22These four were descended from the giants#21.22 Gk: Heb from the Raphah in Gath; they fell by the hands of David and his servants.
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2 Samuel 21: NRSVUE
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New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.