1In the days of David there was a famine that lasted three years, year after year. So David asked the LORD about it. The LORD answered, "It is because of Saul and his house of blood, because he killed the Gibeonites."
2So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were left from the Amorites. The children of Israel had sworn an oath to them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.)
3David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? How can I make atonement, so that you will bless the inheritance of the LORD?"
4The Gibeonites said to him, "We will not take silver or gold from Saul or from his house, and it is not for us to put any man in Israel to death." And he said, "Whatever you say, I will do for you."
5They answered the king, "The man who destroyed us, and who plotted against us so that we should be wiped out and not remain anywhere in the land of Israel -"
6"let seven men of his sons be handed over to us. We will hang them up before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD chose." And the king said, "I will give them."
7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she had borne to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock. She stayed there from the beginning of harvest until water dropped on the bodies from heaven. She did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
12So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead. They had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa.
13He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of the men who had been hanged.
14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. They did all that the king commanded. After that God listened to the prayers for the land.
15The Philistines went to war with Israel again. David went down, and his servants with him, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weak.
16Ishbibenob, who was one of the sons of the giant, meant to kill David. The head of his spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass, and he wore a new sword.
17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his help, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, "You shall not go out with us to battle any more. You must not put out the light of Israel."
18After this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant.
19There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. There Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a man of Bethlehem, killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.
20There was still another battle at Gath. There was a man of great size there who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He too was born to the giant.