2 Samuel 21 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

During David's reign there was a famine that lasted three years in a row. David sought Yahweh's face about it, and Yahweh said, "This is because of Saul and his bloodstained house — because he slaughtered the Gibeonites."

So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (The Gibeonites were not Israelites — they were survivors of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn a covenant oath to protect them, but Saul, in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.)

David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you? How can I make this right so that you will ask for Yahweh's good favor on his people's inheritance?"

The Gibeonites told him, "This isn't about silver or gold between us and Saul's house, and it's not our place to put anyone in Israel to death." David said, "Whatever you say, I'll do it for you."

They said to the king, "The man who destroyed us, who schemed to annihilate us so we'd have no place anywhere in Israel's territory —

let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us, and we will hang their bodies before Yahweh at Gibeah of Saul, Yahweh's chosen one." The king said, "I'll hand them over."

But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath sworn before Yahweh between David and Jonathan, Saul's son.

Instead, the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons that Rizpah daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, along with the five sons that Merab daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

He handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they hung their bodies on the hill before Yahweh. All seven died together. They were put to death in the first days of the barley harvest.

Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah took rough sackcloth and spread it out on the rock for herself. From the start of the harvest until the rain poured down from the sky onto the bodies, she wouldn't let the birds land on them by day or the wild animals get near them at night.

When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done,

David went and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh-gilead. (They had secretly taken the bodies from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)

David brought back the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son from there, and they also gathered the bones of the seven who had been hung.

They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the territory of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayers for the land.

The Philistines went to war with Israel again. David went down with his men to fight the Philistines, and David grew exhausted.

Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the Raphah, whose bronze spear weighed about seven and a half pounds and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David.

But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David's rescue. He struck the Philistine down and killed him. After that, David's men swore an oath to him: "You are not going out to battle with us again. You must not snuff out the lamp of Israel."

Some time later, there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. That's when Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was another descendant of the Raphah.

There was yet another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like a weaver's beam.

And there was another battle at Gath, where there was a huge man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — twenty-four in all. He too was a descendant of the Raphah.

When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of David's brother Shimei killed him.

These four were all descendants of the Raphah in Gath, and they all fell at the hands of David and his men.