KJ3 Literal Translation
2 Samuel 21
The three years of famine for the Gibeonites ceases by hanging seven of Saul's sons. Rizpah's kindness to the dead. David buries the bones of Saul and Jonathan in his father's grave.
1And there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year. And David sought the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah said, It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he caused the Gibeonites to die.
2And the king called for the Gibeonites and said to them (as to the Gibeonites, they were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them and Saul sought to strike them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.)
3And David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I atone, and you bless the inheritance of Jehovah?
4And the Gibeonites said to him, We will have neither silver nor gold by Saul and by his house. Also, we will have no man in Israel die. And he said, What you say, I will do for you.
5And they said to the king, The man who destroyed us and thought to waste us from standing in all the border of Israel was Saul.
6Let be given to us seven men of his sons to us. And we will expose them to Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah. And the king said, I will deliver them.
7But the king spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth the son of Saul because of the oath of Jehovah that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.
8And the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth. And he took the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9And he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites. And they hanged them in the mountain before Jehovah. And the seven fell together. And they were caused to die in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and stretched it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them out of the heavens. And she did not allow a bird of the heavens to rest on them by day nor the beast of the field by night.
11And that which Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done was told to David.
12And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of his son Jonathan from the rulers of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the plaza of Beth-shan, there where the Philistines hanged them in the day the Philistines struck Saul in Gilboa.
13And he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from there, and they gathered up the bones of those hanged.
14And they buried the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, in Zelah, in the grave of his father Kish, and did all that the king had commanded. And afterward God heard prayer for the land.
15And there was war again for the Philistines with Israel. And David went down, and his servants with him. And they fought with the Philistines. And David was weary.
16And Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of Rapha the giant, the weight of his spear being three hundred bronze shekels in weight, and was girded with a new sword; and he said to strike David.
17And Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and caused him to die. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You shall not again go out with us to battle, that you not cause to go out the lamp of Israel.
18And it happened after this that the battle was again in Gob of the Philistines. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite struck Saph, who was among the sons of Rapha.
19And again the battle was in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck Goliath the Gittite, and the wood of his spear was like a weaver's beam.
20And it happened again that the battle was in Gath, and it happened there was a man of stature, and the fingers of his hands were six, and the toes of his feet six, twenty-four in number; and he also had been born to Rapha.
21And he taunted Israel; and Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimeah, struck him.
22These four were born to Rapha the giant in Gath. And they fell by the hand of David, by the hand of his servants.
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