The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
New Living Translation NLT
1 In David's time there was a famine that lasted three years, and David consulted ADONAI. ADONAI said, "It is because of Sha'ul and his bloodstained house, because he put to death the people of Giv'on."
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There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the LORD about it. And the LORD said, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”
2 The king summoned the Giv'onim and said to them - these Giv'onim were not part of the people of Isra'el but from the remnant of the Emori; and the people of Isra'el had sworn to them; but Sha'ul, in his zeal for the people of Isra'el and Y'hudah, had sought to exterminate them -
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So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.
3 David said to the Giv'onim, "What should I do for you? With what should I make atonement, so that you will be able to bless ADONAI's heritage?"
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David asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD ’s people again?”
4 The Giv'onim said to him, "Our dispute with Sha'ul can't be resolved with silver or gold; and we don't have the right to put anyone in Isra'el to death." He said, "So, what do you say that I should do for you?"
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“Well, money can’t settle this matter between us and the family of Saul,” the Gibeonites replied. “Neither can we demand the life of anyone in Israel.” “What can I do then?” David asked. “Just tell me and I will do it for you.”
5 They answered the king, "The man who ruined us, who schemed against us so that we would cease to exist anywhere in Isra'el's territory -
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Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel.
6 have seven of his male descendants handed over to us, and we will put them to death by hanging before ADONAI in Giv'ah of Sha'ul, whom ADONAI chose."The king said, "I will hand them over."
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So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD at Gibeon, on the mountain of the LORD . ” “All right,” the king said, “I will do it.”
7 But the king spared M'fivoshet, the son of Y'honatan the son of Sha'ul, because of the oath before ADONAI between David and Y'honatan the son of Sha'ul.
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The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the LORD .
8 The king took the two sons of Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Sha'ul, Armoni and M'fivoshet; and the five sons of Mikhal the daughter of Sha'ul, whom she bore to Adri'el the son of Barzillai the Mecholati;
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But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah.
9 and handed them over to the Giv'onim, who hanged them on the hill before ADONAI. All seven died; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest season, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
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The men of Gibeon executed them on the mountain before the LORD . So all seven of them died together at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth, spread it out toward a cliff for herself and stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until water was poured out on the bodies from the sky, not letting the birds land on them during the day or the wild animals at night.
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Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah, the mother of two of the men, spread burlap on a rock and stayed there the entire harvest season. She prevented the scavenger birds from tearing at their bodies during the day and stopped wild animals from eating them at night.
11 David was told what Ritzpah the daughter of Ayah, the concubine of Sha'ul, had done.
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When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,
12 So David went and took the bones of Sha'ul and the bones of Y'honatan his son from the men of Yavesh-Gil'ad, who had stolen them from the open square of Beit-Sh'an, where the P'lishtim had hanged them at the time the P'lishtim had killed Sha'ul at Gilboa;
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he went to the people of Jabesh-gilead and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. (When the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, the people of Jabesh-gilead stole their bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them.)
13 and he brought up from there the bones of Sha'ul and the bones of Y'honatan his son. They also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.
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So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.
14 Then they buried the bones of Sha'ul and Y'honatan his son in the territory of Binyamin in Tzela, in the tomb of Kish his father; they did everything the king ordered. Only after that was God prevailed on to show mercy to the land.
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Then the king ordered that they bury the bones in the tomb of Kish, Saul’s father, at the town of Zela in the land of Benjamin. After that, God ended the famine in the land.
15 Once again the P'lishtim made war on Isra'el. David went down with his servants and fought against the P'lishtim, but David began to get tired.
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Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted.
16 Yishbi-B'nov, one of the sons of the giant, said that he would kill David; his spear weighed seven pounds, and he was wearing new armor.
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Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants ; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him.
17 But Avishai the son of Tz'ruyah came to David's rescue by striking the P'lishti and killing him. Then David's men swore to him, "You must no longer go out with us to battle, in order not to quench the lamp of Isra'el."
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But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men declared, “You are not going out to battle with us again! Why risk snuffing out the light of Israel?”
18 A while after this there was again war with the P'lishtim, at Gov. Sibkhai the Hushati killed Saf, one of the sons of the giant.
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After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.
19 There was more war with the P'lishtim at Gov; and Elchanan the son of Ya'arei-Orgim, the Beit-Lachmi, killed Golyat the Gitti, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's beam.
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During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!
20 There was again war at Gat, where there was a belligerent man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot - twenty-four in all - and he too was a son of the giant.
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In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants.
21 When he mocked Isra'el, Y'honatan the son of Shim'ah David's brother killed him.
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But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.
22 These four were sons of the giant in Gat; they fell at the hands of David and his servants.
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These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.