2So 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.

3David 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.”

5Then they replied, “It was Saul who planned to destroy us, to keep us from having any place at all in the territory of Israel.

6So 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.21:6 As in Greek version (see also 21:9); Hebrew reads at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.”

7The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth,21:7 Mephibosheth is another name for Merib-baal. who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord.

8But 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,21:8 As in a few Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and Syriac version (see also 1 Sam 18:19); most Hebrew manuscripts read Michal. the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah.

9The 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.

10Then 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.

11When David learned what Rizpah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

12he 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.)

13So David obtained the bones of Saul and Jonathan, as well as the bones of the men the Gibeonites had executed.

14Then 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.

18After this, there was another battle against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Saph, another descendant of the giants.

19During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair21:19a As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:5; Hebrew reads son of Jaare-oregim. from Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath.21:19b As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:5; Hebrew reads killed Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as thick as a weaver’s beam!

20In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man21:20 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:6; Hebrew reads a Midianite. with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants.

21But when he defied and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimea.21:21 As in parallel text at 1 Chr 20:7; Hebrew reads Shimei, a variant spelling of Shimea.

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