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          DASV: 2 Samuel 21    

1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three
successive years. So David sought the face of the LORD.
The LORD said, "It is for Saul, and for his bloodstained
house, because he murdered the Gibeonites."
2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.
(Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel,
but were those left over from the Amorites. The Israelites
had sworn to spare them, but Saul sought to wipe them
out in his zeal for Israel and Judah).

3 David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you? How
can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance
of the LORD?”
4 The Gibeonites replied, "It is not a matter of silver
or gold between us and Saul or his family; neither would
we be right to put to death anyone in Israel." He asked,
"What do you want me to do for you?"
5 They said to the king, "The man who devoured us, and
plotted genocide against us, so that we should have no
place in any of the borders of Israel,
6 let seven men of his sons be turned over to us, and we
will impale them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the
chosen of the LORD." The king replied, “All right, I will
hand them over to you."
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the
son of Saul, because of the oath David and Saul’s son
Jonathan had made before the LORD.
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 handed them over into the hands of the Gibeonites.
They impaled them on the mountain before the LORD. So all
seven died together on the first days of harvest, at
the beginning of barley harvest.

10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread
it out on a rock. From the beginning of harvest until
rain poured down on them from heaven, she did not allow
the birds of the air to feed on them by day, or the wild
animals of the field by night.
11 When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah,
the concubine of Saul, had done,
12 he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan
from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them
from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines
had hung them on the day the Philistines killed Saul
on Mount Gilboa.
13 David brought up from there the bones of Saul and his
son Jonathan, along with the bones gathered from those who
had just been impaled.
14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in
the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish Saul’s
father; they did all that the king had ordered. After that,
God answered the prayers for the land.

15 The Philistines again made war with Israel. So David
and his troops went down and fought against the Philistines.
David became exhausted.
16 Ishbibenob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose
spear weighed seven pounds of bronze, was armed with a
new sword and he intended to kill David.
17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to David’s aid and
struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David
swore to him, saying, "You should never again go out to war
with us, so that you do not snuff out the lamp of Israel."

18 After this, there was another battle with the Philistines
at Gob. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph,
who was also a descendant of the giants.
19 There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob.
Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed
Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was as massive
as a weaver's beam.
20 There was another battle at Gath, where they encountered
a huge man who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes
on each foot, twenty-four in total; he too was a descendant
of giants.
21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei,
David's brother, killed him.
22 These four were descendants from giants in Gath; they
fell by the hand of David and his soldiers.

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