21
1 Then there was a ra'av (famine) in the days of Dovid shalosh shanim, shanah after shanah; and Dovid inquired of Hashem. And Hashem answered, It is on account of Sha'ul, and for his bais hadamim, because he slaughtered the Giv'onim.
2 And HaMelech called the Giv'onim, and said unto them; (now the Giveonim were not of the Bnei Yisroel, but of the remnant of the Emori; and the Bnei Yisroel had sworn unto them; and Sha'ul sought to annihilate them in his kinot (zeal) for the Bnei Yisroel and Yehudah.) 3 Therefore Dovid said unto the Giv'onim, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the kapporah, that ye may bless the nachalat Hashem? 4 And the Giv'onim said unto him, We will have no kesef nor zahav of Sha'ul, nor of his bais; neither for us shalt thou kill any ish in Yisroel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. 5 And they answered HaMelech, The ish that consumed us, and that plotted against us that we should be made shmad from remaining in any of the territories of Yisroel, 6 Let shivah anashim of his banim be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto Hashem in Giv'ah of Sha'ul, whom Hashem did choose. And HaMelech said, I will give them.
7 But HaMelech spared Mephivoshet Ben Yonatan Ben Sha'ul, because of Hashemʼs shevua (oath) that was between them, between Dovid and Yonatan Ben Sha'ul. 8 But HaMelech took the two Bnei Ritzpah Bat Ayah, whom she bore unto Sha'ul, Armoni and Mephivoshet; and the five Bnei Michal* Bat Sha'ul, whom she bore to Adriel Ben Barzillai the Mecholati; 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Giveonim, and they hanged them in the hill before Hashem; and they fell all shivah together and were put to death in the yamim of katzir (harvest), in the rishonim, in the beginning of katzir se'orim (barley harvest).
10 And Ritzpah Bat Ayah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the tzur, from the beginning of katzir until mayim dropped upon them out of Shomayim, and suffered neither the oph haShomayim to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the sadeh by night.
11 And it was told Dovid what Ritzpah Bat Ayah, the pilegesh (concubine) of Sha'ul, had done. 12 And Dovid went and took the atzmot Sha'ul and the atzmot Yonatan bno from the citizens of Yavesh-Gil'ad, which had stolen them from the rechov (street) of Beit-Shan, where the Pelishtim had hanged them, when the Pelishtim had slain Sha'ul in Gilboa; 13 And he brought up from there the atzmot Sha'ul and the atzmot Yonatan bno; and they gathered the atzmot of them that were hanged. 14 And the atzmot Sha'ul and Yonatan bno buried they in eretz Binyamin in Tzela, in the kever of Kish aviv; and they performed all that HaMelech commanded. And after that Elohim was entreated for the land.
15 Moreover the Pelishtim had yet milchamah again with Yisroel; and Dovid went down, and his avadim with him, and fought against the Pelishtim; and Dovid grew faint. 16 And Yishbi-benov, which was of the yeladim of Rafah (Giant), the weight of whose spearhead weighed three hundred shekels of nechoshet in weight, he being girded chadashah (belted anew), declared that he could slay Dovid. 17 But Avishai Ben Tzeruyah came to his aid, and struck the Pelishti (Philistine), and killed him. Then the anshei Dovid swore an oath unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to milchamah (battle), that thou quench not the Ner Yisroel (Lamp of Israel).
18 And it came to pass after this, that there was again milchamah with the Pelishtim at Gov; then Sibbekhai the Chushati slaughtered Saph, which was of the banim of the Rafah.
19 And there was again milchamah in Gov with the Pelishtim, where Elchanan Ben Ya'arei-Orgim, from Beit-Lechem, slaughtered the brother of Golyat (Goliath) the Gitti, the staff of whose khanit (spear) was like a weaverʼs beam.
20 And there was yet again a milchamah in Gat, where was a man of great stature, that had on every yad six fingers, and on every regel six toes, four and twenty in mispar (number); and he also was born to the Rafah. 21 And when he defied Yisroel, Yehonatan Ben Shime'ah the brother of Dovid slaughtered him.
22 These four were born to the Rafah in Gat, and fell by the yad Dovid, and by the yad of his avadim.†
* 21:8 Merav † 21:22 T.N. Kapporah is made here by that which is hanged unto Hashem — see 2Sm 21:3,6; Isa 53:10