Parallel Bible results for "2 samuel 21"

2 Samuel 21

New Living Translation NLT

1 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 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 asked them, “What can I do for you? How can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD ’s people again?”

4 “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 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 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 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 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 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 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 When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

12 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 So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.

14 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 Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted.

16 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 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 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 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 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 But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.

22 These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.

Common English Bible CEB

1 There was a famine for three years in a row during David's rule. David asked the LORD about this, and the LORD said, "It is caused by Saul and his household, who are guilty of bloodshed because he killed the people of Gibeon."

2 So the king called for the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites weren't Israelites but were survivors of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn a solemn pledge to spare them, but Saul tried to eliminate them in his enthusiasm for the people of Israel and Judah.)

3 David said to the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you? How can I fix matters so you can benefit from the LORD's inheritance?"

4 The Gibeonites said to him, "We don't want any silver or gold from Saul or his family, and it isn't our right to have anyone in Israel killed." "What do you want?" David asked. "I'll do it for you."

5 "Okay then," they said to the king. "That man who opposed and oppressed us, who planned to destroy us, keeping us from having a place to live anywhere in Israel—

6 hand over seven of his sons to us, and we will hang them before the LORD at Gibeon on the LORD's mountain." "I will hand them over," the king said.

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson, because of the LORD's solemn pledge that was between them—between David and Saul's son Jonathan.

8 So the king took the two sons of Aiah's daughter Rizpah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, whom she had birthed for Saul; and the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she birthed for Adriel, Barzillai's son, who was from Meholah,

9 and he handed them over to the Gibeonites. They hanged them on the mountain before the LORD. The seven of them died at the same time. They were executed in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

10 Aiah's daughter Rizpah took funeral clothing and spread it out by herself on a rock. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rains poured down on the bodies from the sky, and she wouldn't let any birds of prey land on the bodies during the day or let wild animals come at nighttime.

11 When David was told what Aiah's daughter Rizpah, Saul's secondary wife, had done,

12 he went and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen the bones from the public square in Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.

13 David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there and collected the bones of the men who had been hanged by the Gibeonites.

14 The bones of Saul and his son Jonathan were then buried in Zela, in Benjaminite territory, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. Once everything the king had commanded was done, God responded to prayers for the land.

15 Once again war broke out between the Philistines and Israel. David and the soldiers who were with him went down and fought the Philistines. When David grew tired,

16 Ishbi-benob, a descendant of the Raphah, planned on killing David. The weight of his spear was three hundred shekels of bronze, and he was wearing new armor.

17 But Zeruiah's son Abishai came to David's aid, striking the Philistine down and killing him. Then David's men swore a solemn pledge to him: "You will never march out to battle with us again! You must not snuff out Israel's lamp!"

18 Some time later, another battle with the Philistines took place at Gob. Then Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, a descendant of the Raphah.

19 There was yet another battle with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan, Jair's son from Bethlehem, killed Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was as strong as the bar on a weaver's loom.

20 In another battle at Gath, there was a huge man who had six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet, twenty-four in all. He too was descended from the Raphah.

21 When he insulted Israel, Jonathan, who was the son of David's brother Shimei, killed him.

22 These four Philistines were descended from the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hands of David and his servants.