David Avenges the Gibeonites 1 UST During the time when David ruled, there was a famine in Israel continuously for three years. David asked Yahweh why this was happening. Yahweh told him,“{ There is a famine to show that} you need to punish Saul’ s family because Saul killed so many people from the Gibeonite group.” BSB BSB: During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
2 UST So the king asked the leaders of Gibeon to come and speak with him.(The people of Gibeon were not Israelites. They were instead an Amorite people group that had survived{ when the Israelites invaded the land of Canaan and killed the rest of the Amorites}. The Israelites had solemnly promised that they would not kill them. But Saul had tried to kill all of them because he eagerly wanted the people of Israel and Judah to be the only ones living in that land.) BSB BSB: At this, David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but in his zeal for Israel and Judah, Saul had sought to kill them.)
3 UST David said to the Gibeonite leaders,“What can I do to make up for what Saul did to your people so that you would then ask Yahweh to do good things for us Israelites again?” BSB BSB: So David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”
4 UST They replied,“You cannot make up for what Saul did to us by having his family pay us any amount of money. And we do not have the right to kill any Israelites.” So David asked,“So what are you asking me to do for you?” BSB BSB: The Gibeonites said to him, “We need no silver or gold from Saul or his house, nor should you put to death anyone in Israel for us.” “Whatever you ask, I will do for you,” he replied.
5 UST They replied,“That man Saul wanted to destroy us so that none of us would live anywhere in Israel. And he killed many of us. BSB BSB: And they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us to exterminate us from existing within any border of Israel,
6 UST Give us seven of Saul’ s descendants{ and allow us to execute them}. We will{ kill them and} hang up their bodies in public so that Yahweh can see that we have punished Saul’ s family for what he did. We will do this in the city of Gibeah where Saul lived. Yahweh chose him to be the king of Israel{ and he should have protected us}.” The king replied,“Very well, I will give them to you{ so that you can execute them}.” BSB BSB: let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
7 UST The king did not give Saul’ s grandson Mephibosheth to them. He was Jonathan’ s son, and David and Jonathan had made a solemn promise that they would never harm each other’ s descendants. They had sworn by Yahweh that they would keep that promise. BSB BSB: Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
8 UST Instead, he took two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah, had borne to Saul{ as his secondary wife}. Their names were Armoni and Mephibosheth. David also took five of the sons of Merab, Saul’ s daughter. Merab’ s husband was Adriel son of Barzillai. He was from the city of Meholah. BSB BSB: But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, as well as the five sons whom Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9 UST David gave these men to the people of Gibeon{ to execute}. They took those seven men to Gibeon and killed them and hanged their bodies up on the hill in that city. That was where people worshiped Yahweh and considered him to be present. The Gibeonites killed those seven men at the same time. Those men died at the beginning of the time of year when people harvest their grain, beginning with barley. BSB BSB: And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10 UST Then Rizpah took some rough cloth and hung it from a rock{ near the bodies} so she could sit under it and have shade from the sun. She stayed there from the time that people started to harvest barley until the autumn rains began. She did not allow any birds to come near the corpses during the day, and she did not allow any wild animals to come near them during the night. BSB BSB: And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
11 UST Someone told David what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’ s secondary wife, had done. BSB BSB: When David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done,
12 UST So he went{ with some of his servants} to Jabesh Gilead, where the leaders of that city allowed him to take the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. The soldiers from that city had gone stealthily at night and taken their bones from the plaza in the city of Beth Shan. That was where Philistine soldiers had hung them on the day when they had killed Saul{ and Jonathan} on Mount Gilboa. BSB BSB: he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.
13 UST David{ and his servants} took the bones of Saul and Jonathan. Some other servants also took the bones of the seven men whom the Gibeonites had hanged. BSB BSB: So David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought from there, and they also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.
14 UST David’ s servants went to the tomb of Saul’ s father Kish, in the city of Zela in the land of the tribe of Benjamin. There they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan{ and the bones of the men whom the Gibeonites had hanged}. In this way, they did all that the king had commanded them to do. After the Gibeonites punished Saul’ s family for what he had done, God answered the Israelites’ prayers for their land{ and caused the famine to end}. BSB BSB: And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.
Four Battles against the Philistines (1 Chronicles 20:4–8)
15 UST Later the Philistine army began to fight again against the army of Israel. David went with his soldiers to fight them. During the battle, David became tired. BSB BSB: Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines. But David became exhausted.
16 UST One of the Philistine soldiers in the battle was a man whose name was Ishbi Benob. He was a giant as his ancestors had been. He carried a bronze spear that weighed almost three and a half kilograms. He also had a dangerous weapon. It seemed to him that he was going to be able to kill David. BSB BSB: Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.
17 UST But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to help David. He attacked the giant and killed him. Then David’ s soldiers made David promise that he would not go with them into a battle again. They said that if enemy soldiers killed him in battle, Israel would no longer have him as king to guide them. BSB BSB: But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”
18 UST Later, the Israelite soldiers fought another battle with the Philistines. This happened near Gob. During the battle, Sibbecai, from the clan of Hushah, killed Saph, who was a giant as his ancestors had been. BSB BSB: Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, a descendant of Rapha.
19 UST Later, the Israelite soldiers fought another battle with the Philistines near Gob. During that battle, Elhanan son of Jaare Oregim from Bethlehem killed Goliath from Gath. Goliath had a great spear whose shaft was very thick, like the bar on a weaver’ s loom. BSB BSB: Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20 UST Later, there was another battle near Gath. One of the Philistine soldiers was very tall. He had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was a giant as his ancestors had been. BSB BSB: And there was also a battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha,
21 UST He challenged any Israelite soldier to fight him in single combat. David’ s older brother Shimeah had a son whose name was Jonathan. Jonathan accepted the challenge, fought this Philistine soldier, and killed him. BSB BSB: and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimei killed him.
22 UST Those four men lived in Gath and were giants as their ancestors had been. David and his soldiers fought them and killed them. BSB BSB: So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.