1 Now it came to pass in the days of David that there was a famine for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}. The LORD said, “It is on account of Saul and of the house of blood {ha-damim: bloodguilt lineage}, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
2 And the king summoned the Gibeonites {Giv’onim: treaty-bound group} and spoke to them. The Gibeonites were not of the descendants of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn to them, yet Saul, in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah {Yehudah: southern tribe}, sought to strike them down.
3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you, and with what shall I make atonement {akhaper: to cover, to reconcile} so that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD {YHWH: Covenant Preserver}?”
4 And the Gibeonites {hagiv’onim: treaty-bound survivors} said to him, “We have no silver {kesef: standard currency} or gold with Saul or with his house, nor do we have any man to kill in Israel.” And he said, “Say what you require, and I will do it for you.”
5 And they said to the king, “The man who destroyed us and who plotted {dimma-lanu: planned hostility} against us—we have been destroyed {nishmadnu: completely consumed} from standing anywhere within all the territory of Israel.”
6 Let seven men {anashim: adult males} from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the LORD {YHWH, Just Judge} at Gibeah of Saul the chosen of the LORD; and the king said, "I will give them."
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath {shevū’ah: binding solemn promise} of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Witness} that was between them, between David and Jonathan, son of Saul.
8 And the king took the two sons of Rizpah {rizpah: burning coal}, daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul—Armoni and Mephibosheth—and the five sons of Merab (called Michal in this verse’s Hebrew tradition), daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, son of Barzillai the Meholathite {meholathi: of Meholah}.
9 And he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the hill before the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Arbiter}, and all seven fell together; they were put to death in the days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest {seorim: spring grain}.
10 And Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth {sak: mourning cloth} and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of the harvest {katsir: crop gathering} until water was poured down from the heavens upon them. She did not allow the birds of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 And it was told to David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine {pilegesh: recognized secondary wife} of Saul, had done {aseta: completed action}.
12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh Gilead {ba'alei Yavesh Gilad: inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead}, who had stolen them from the plaza {merchov: public gathering place} of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day that the Philistines struck Saul in Gilboa.
13 And he brought up {vayya‘al: ceremonially exhumed} from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged {hamuqa‘im: publicly displayed}.
14 And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father, and they did all that the king commanded. And God {Elohim, Prayer Answerer} was entreated for the land {eretz: territory and people} after this.
15 And again there was battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his servants {avadav: royal attendants} and fought the Philistines, and David grew weary {ya'af: became physically exhausted}.
16 Now Ishbi-benob, who was among the descendants of the Rapha, had a bronze spear weighing three hundred shekels and was girded with a new {chadashah: unused} sword. And he said he would strike David {Dawid: beloved leader}.
17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid and struck the Philistine down, putting him to death. Then the men of David swore an oath to him, saying, “You shall not go out with us again to battle {milḥāmâ: armed engagement}, and you will not extinguish the lamp {nēr: symbol of leadership} of Israel.”
18 And it happened after this that there was again a battle at Gob {Gov: battlefield site} with the Philistines. Then Sibbekai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among the descendants of Rapha {ha-Rafah: giant lineage}.
19 And again there was the battle at Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jaarei-oregim the Bethlehemite struck Goliath the Gittite {haggiti: from Gath}, and the shaft of his spear was like the beam of weavers {orgim: skilled craftsmen}.
20 And again there was war {milchamah: renewed conflict} in Gath, and there was a man of extraordinary size {midin: measure descriptor}, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six and six—twenty-four in number. And he also was born to the Rapha.
21 And he taunted {chareph: insulted provocatively} Israel, and Jonathan the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, struck him down {yakkehhu: delivered a decisive blow}.
22 These four were born to Rapha {rafah: giant ancestor} in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants {avadav: loyal attendants}.