¹There was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year; and David searched the face of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, "It is on account of Saul and on account of the house of bloodshed, because he put to death the Gibeonites."

²The king called to the Gibeonites and said to them — now the Gibeonites were not from the children of Israel, but from what was left of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn an oath to them, yet Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.

³David said to the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you, and with what shall I cover over, that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?"

⁴The Gibeonites said to him, "We have no silver or gold to claim from Saul or his house, and it is not for us to put to death any man in Israel." And he said, "Whatever you say, I will do for you."

⁵They said to the king, "The man who made an end of us, and who devised against us that we be destroyed, so that we would not stand in any of the territory of Israel —

⁶let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will impale them to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of Yahweh." And the king said, "I will give them."

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of Yahweh which was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

⁸The king took the two children of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five children of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

⁹He gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they impaled them on the mountain before Yahweh; and the seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the days of harvest, among the first, at the beginning of the harvest of barley.

¹⁰Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until waters were poured out on them from the skies; and she did not set the bird of the skies to settle on them by day, nor the beast of the field by night.

¹¹It was told to David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the citizens of Jabesh of Gilead, who had stolen them from the broad place of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them in the day the Philistines struck Saul in Gilboa.

¹³He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of those who had been impaled.

¹⁴They interred the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father; and they did all that the king commanded. And after this, God was entreated for the land.

¹⁵There was again war between the Philistines and Israel, and David came down, and his servants with him, and they fought the Philistines; and David was exhausted.

¹⁶And Ishbi-Benob, who was among those born of Raphah — and the weight of his spear was three hundred, by the weight of bronze, and he was girded with a new one — he thought to strike down David.

¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You will not go out again with us to the war, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel."

¹⁸It happened after that, there was again the war in Gob with the Philistines; then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was among those born of Raphah.

¹⁹There was again the war in Gob with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite struck Goliath the Gittite, and the wood of his spear was like the beam of weavers.

²⁰There was again war in Gath, and there was a man of stature, and the fingers of his hands and the fingers of his feet were six and six, twenty and four in number; and he also was born to Raphah.

²¹He taunted Israel, and Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David struck him down.

²²These four were born to Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.