The Descendants of Saul Are Killed
2 Kingdoms 21, verse 1. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David inquired before the Lord. And the Lord said, “In Saul and his unrighteous house there is wrongdoing, because of his bloodthirsty killings when he killed the Gibeonites.” 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 2. So King David called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not sons of Israel, but belonged to the remnant of the Amorites. The sons of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 3. And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement so that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?” 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 4. And the Gibeonites said to him, “We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.” So he said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 5. Then they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and pursued us, who deceived us to destroy us, let us blot him out from remaining in any of the territories of Israel. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 6. Let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us, and we will hang them in broad daylight before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord chose.” And the king said, “I will give them.” 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 7. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 8. So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 9. and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites. They hanged them on the hill before the Lord. So they fell, all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 10. Now Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of barley harvest until the rains poured on them from heaven. And she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 11. David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. And they were faint, and Dan, son of Joah from the offspring of the giants, overtook them. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 12. Then David went and took Saul's bones and the bones of Jonathan his son. He took them from the men of Jabesh Gilead, who stole them from the square of Beth Shan where the Philistines put them, on the day the Philistines struck down Saul in Gilboa. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 13. So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there, and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 14. And they buried Saul's bones and the bones of Jonathan his son and the bones of those who were hanged in the country of Benjamin, in Zelah beside the tomb of Kish his father. So they did everything the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land.
The Death of the Philistine Giants
2 Kingdoms 21, verse 15. Now the Philistines were still at war with Israel, and David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 16. Then Ishbi thought he could kill David. This Ishbi was one of the descendants of the giants, and the weight of his spear was the weight of three hundred bronze shekels, and he was girded with a club. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 17. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, saying, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, that you do not quench the lamp of Israel.” 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 18. Now after this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gath. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 19. And there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like a weaver's beam. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 20. Yet again there was a battle at Gath, where there was a man of strife who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number. He also was born to the giant. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 21. And he defied Israel, and Jonathan the son of Shimea, brother of David, killed him. 2 Kingdoms 21, verse 22. These four were born as offspring of the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.