1
And there was a famine in the days of Daviyd, three years, year after year. And Daviyd sought the face of Yahuah. And Yahuah said: “Because of Shaul, and because of the House of Blood, because he put the Givonim to death.”
2
And the king called the Givonim and spoke to them. Now the Givonim were not from the sons of Yisra’el, but from the remnant of the Emori; and the sons of Yisra’el had sworn to them. But Shaul sought to strike them in his zeal for the sons of Yisra’el and Yehudah.
3
And Daviyd said to the Givonim: “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the Inheritance of Yahuah?”
4
And the Givonim said to him: “There is no matter of silver or gold between us and Shaul and his House; and there is no ish for us to put to death in Yisra’el.” And he said, “What you say, I will do for you.”
5
And they said to the king: “The ish who consumed us, and who devised against us that we should be destroyed from standing within any border of Yisra’el—
6
let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before Yahuah in Givah of Shaul, the chosen of Yahuah.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
7
But the king spared Mefivoshet son of Yonatan son of Shaul, because of the Oath of Yahuah that was between them, between Daviyd and Yonatan son of Shaul.
8
And the king took the two sons of Ritzpah daughter of Ayah, whom she bore to Shaul, Armoni and Mefivoshet, and the five sons of Mikhal daughter of Shaul, whom she bore to Adri’el son of Barzillai the Mecholati.
9
And he gave them into the hand of the Givonim. And they hanged them upon the mountain before Yahuah. And the seven of them fell together. And they were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
10
And Ritzpah daughter of Ayah took sackcloth and spread it for herself upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the heavens to rest upon them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
11
And it was declared to Daviyd what Ritzpah daughter of Ayah, concubine of Shaul, had done.
12
And Daviyd went and took the bones of Shaul and the bones of Yonatan his son from the masters of Yavesh-Gilad, who had stolen them from the open place of Beit-Shan, where the Pelishtim had hung them on the day the Pelishtim struck Shaul at Gilboa.
13
And he brought up from there the bones of Shaul and the bones of Yonatan his son. And they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.
14
And they buried the bones of Shaul and Yonatan his son in the land of Binyamin, in Tzela, in the tomb of Qish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after this Elohim was entreated for the land.
15
And there was again war between the Pelishtim and Yisra’el. And Daviyd went down, and his servants with him, and they fought against the Pelishtim. And Daviyd became weary.
16
And Yishbi-Benov, who was among the descendants of the Refa’im, and the weight of whose spear was three hundred sheqels of bronze, and who was girded with a new weapon, said that he would strike Daviyd.
17
But Avishai son of Tzeruyah helped him and struck the Pelishti and put him to death. Then the men of Daviyd swore to him, saying: “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the Lamp of Yisra’el.”
18
And it came to pass after this that there was again war with the Pelishtim at Gov. Then Sibbekhai the Chushati struck Saf, who was among the descendants of the Refa’im.
19
And there was again war with the Pelishtim at Gov. And Elchanan son of Yaarei-Oregim the Beit-Lachmi struck Golyat the Gitti, and the shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20
And there was again war at Gat. And there was an ish of great stature, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six and six—twenty-four in number. And he also had been born to the Refa’im.
21
And he reproached Yisra’el. And Yonatan son of Shimah, brother of Daviyd, struck him.
22
These four were born to the Refa’im in Gat, and they fell by the hand of Daviyd and by the hand of his servants.