1 Durante o reinado de Davi, houve uma fome que durou três anos. Davi consultou o Senhor, que lhe disse: "A fome veio por causa de Saul e de sua família sanguinária, por terem matado os gibeonitas".
2 O rei então mandou chamar os gibeonitas e falou com eles. ( Os gibeonitas não eram de origem israelita, mas remanescentes dos amorreus. Os israelitas tinham feito com eles um acordo sob juramento; mas Saul, em seu zelo por Israel e Judá, havia tentado exterminá-los. )
3 Davi perguntou aos gibeonitas: "Que posso fazer por vocês? Como posso reparar o que foi feito, para que abençoem a herança do Senhor? "
4 Os gibeonitas responderam: "Não exigimos de Saul ou de sua família prata ou ouro, nem queremos matar ninguém em Israel". Davi perguntou: "O que querem que eu faça por vocês? ",
5 e eles responderam: "Quanto ao homem que quase nos exterminou e que pretendia destruir-nos, para que não tivéssemos lugar em Israel,
6 que sete descendentes dele sejam executados perante o Senhor, em Gibeá de Saul, no monte do Senhor". "Eu os entregarei a vocês", disse o rei.
7 O rei poupou Mefibosete, filho de Jônatas e neto de Saul, por causa do juramento feito perante o Senhor entre Davi e Jônatas, filho de Saul.
8 Mas o rei mandou buscar Armoni e Mefibosete, dois filhos de Rispa, filha de Aiá, que ela teve com Saul, e os cinco filhos de Merabe, filha de Saul, que ela teve com Adriel, filho de Barzilai, de Meolá.
9 Ele os entregou aos gibeonitas, que os executaram no monte, perante o Senhor. Os sete foram mortos ao mesmo tempo, nos primeiros dias da colheita de cevada.
10 Então Rispa, filha de Aiá, pegou um pano de saco e o estendeu para si sobre uma rocha. Desde o início da colheita até cair chuva do céu sobre os corpos, ela não deixou que as aves de rapina os tocassem de dia, nem os animais selvagens à noite.
11 Quando Davi foi informado do que Rispa, filha de Aiá, concubina de Saul, havia feito,
12 ele mandou recolher os ossos de Saul e de Jônatas, tomando-os dos cidadãos de Jabes-Gileade. ( Eles haviam roubado os ossos da praça de Bete-Seã, onde os filisteus os tinham pendurado, no dia em que mataram Saul no monte Gilboa. )
13 Davi trouxe de lá os ossos de Saul e de seu filho Jônatas, que foram recolhidos dentre os ossos dos que haviam sido executados.
14 Enterraram os ossos de Saul e de Jônatas no túmulo de Quis, pai de Saul, em Zela, na terra de Benjamim, e fizeram tudo o que o rei ordenou. Depois disso, Deus respondeu as orações em favor da terra de Israel.
15 Houve, ainda, outra batalha entre os filisteus e Israel; Davi e seus soldados foram lutar contra os filisteus. Davi se cansou muito,
16 e Isbi-Benobe, descendente de Rafa, prometeu matar Davi. ( A ponta de bronze da lança de Isbi-Benobe pesava três quilos e seiscentos gramas, e ele ainda estava armado com uma espada nova. )
17 Mas Abisai, filho de Zeruia, foi em socorro de Davi e matou o filisteu. Então os soldados de Davi lhe juraram, dizendo: "Nunca mais sairás conosco à guerra, para que não apagues a lâmpada de Israel".
18 Houve depois outra batalha com os filisteus, em Gobe. Naquela ocasião Sibecai, de Husate, matou Safe, um dos descendentes de Rafa.
19 Noutra batalha contra os filisteus em Gobe, Elanã, filho de Jaaré-Oregim, de Belém, matou Golias, de Gate, que possuía uma lança cuja haste parecia uma lançadeira de tecelão.
20 Noutra batalha, em Gate, havia um homem de grande estatura e que tinha seis dedos em cada mão e seis dedos em cada pé, vinte e quatro dedos ao todo. Ele também era descendente de Rafa,
21 e desafiou Israel, mas Jônatas, filho de Siméia, irmão de Davi, o matou.
22 Esses quatro eram descendentes de Rafa, em Gate, e foram mortos por Davi e seus soldados.
1 During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death."
2 The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.)
3 David asked the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the LORD's inheritance?"
4 The Gibeonites answered him, "We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death." "What do you want me to do for you?" David asked.
5 They answered the king, "As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel,
6 let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul —the LORD's chosen one." So the king said, "I will give them to you."
7 The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah's daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, "whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9 He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.
10 Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds touch them by day or the wild animals by night.
11 When David was told what Aiah's daughter Rizpah, Saul's concubine, had done,
12 he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had stolen their bodies from the public square at Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)
13 David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up.
14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul's father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.
15 Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted.
16 And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels "and who was armed with a new sword, said he would kill David.
17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David's rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, saying, "Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished."
18 In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.
19 In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair "the Bethlehemite killed the brother of "Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's rod.
20 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot —twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha.
21 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him.
22 These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.