✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

2 Samuel 21

KJV · Chapter 21/24

1Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

2And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

3Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

4And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

5And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

6Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

7But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

9And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

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

12And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh–gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth–shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

13And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

14And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

15Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.

16And Ishbi–benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

17But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.

18And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant.

19And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare–oregim, a Beth–lehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

20And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.

21And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea the brother of David slew him.

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

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A three-year famine leads David to discover it is punishment for Saul's breaking of an ancient treaty with the Gibeonites. Seven of Saul's descendants are handed over for reparation, and Rizpah, mother of two of them, keeps a moving vigil over their bodies. The chapter ends with battles against Philistine giants.

Explanation

This episode reflects the Old Testament view that breaking solemn oaths (even ones made generations earlier) carries serious consequences for the whole community — the treaty with the Gibeonites dates back to Joshua 9. Rizpah's vigil, protecting the bodies from birds and animals for months, is one of the most touching displays of a mother's love in the Bible, and it moves David to give Saul and Jonathan's bones a proper burial. The battles against the 'sons of the giant' (descendants of Goliath) show that the Philistine threat, though weakened, still lingered.

Fun facts

  • The Gibeonites were descendants of the Amorites who had made a peace pact with Israel through deception in Joshua 9 — a pact Saul broke centuries later, creating this blood debt.
  • One of the giants killed in this chapter, from Gath, had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (twenty-four in all), a condition known today clinically as polydactyly.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Samuel 21:1The three-year famine is attributed to a guilt from an earlier generation: Saul broke an old oath Israel had made to spare the Gibeonites, and the punishment only appears years later, in the following reign — reflecting the ancient idea that a solemn oath bound not only the one who swore it, but the whole people, for generations.
  2. 2 Samuel 21:2The Gibeonites were not Israelites, but an Amorite people who had received an old oath of protection from Israel — an oath Saul broke by trying to exterminate them.
  3. 2 Samuel 21:3David asks the Gibeonites what he can do to make amends for the wrong suffered and win back their blessing over Israel.
  4. 2 Samuel 21:4The Gibeonites say they want no silver or gold, nor to kill anyone at random in Israel — something more specific lies behind their request.
  5. 2 Samuel 21:5They ask for justice against the one who tried to exterminate them, keeping them from surviving anywhere in Israel.
  6. 2 Samuel 21:6They ask that seven of Saul’s descendants be handed over to be executed before the Lord at Gibeah, and David agrees to hand them over.
  7. 2 Samuel 21:7David spares Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, because of the oath of loyalty he had made with Jonathan, his father.
  8. 2 Samuel 21:8David hands over instead two sons of Rizpah and five grandsons of Saul, sons of Michal’s sister, to be delivered to the Gibeonites.
  9. 2 Samuel 21:9Handing over seven of Saul’s descendants to be “hanged up unto the Lord” — likely impaled or hung as an atoning offering — was the way the Gibeonites asked for the bloodshed to be repaid; the text reports the custom without praising it.
  10. 2 Samuel 21:10Rizpah, mother of two of the executed men, keeps watch over the hanging bodies for months, driving away birds and animals — a vigil of mourning so striking that it reaches David’s ears and leads him to give the whole house of Saul a proper burial.
  11. 2 Samuel 21:11News reaches David of what Rizpah had done, watching over her sons’ bodies for so long.
  12. 2 Samuel 21:12David goes to retrieve the bones of Saul and Jonathan, which the people of Jabesh-gilead had secretly rescued from where the Philistines had hung them.
  13. 2 Samuel 21:13David brings back the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and adds to them the bones of the seven men who had been executed.
  14. 2 Samuel 21:14They bury them all in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father, fulfilling the king’s order — and after that God is moved by prayer for the land, ending the chapter’s famine.
  15. 2 Samuel 21:15The Philistines go to war against Israel again, and David goes down into battle with his men, but grows extremely weary in the fighting.
  16. 2 Samuel 21:16Ishbi-benob, a warrior descended from giants, armed with a heavy spear and a new sword, tries to kill David in that moment of weakness.
  17. 2 Samuel 21:17Abishai saves David by killing the Philistine, and the king’s men swear that he must never again go out personally into battle, being too precious to the people.
  18. 2 Samuel 21:18In another battle against the Philistines, at Gob, Sibbecai kills Saph, another descendant of giants.
  19. 2 Samuel 21:19Here it is Elhanan who kills Goliath the Gittite — the same Goliath from David’s duel in 1 Samuel 17. Scholars disagree: it may be a different Goliath, a copying error in the text, or, as 1 Chronicles 20:5 suggests, a mix-up between Goliath and his brother Lahmi.
  20. 2 Samuel 21:20In a new battle at Gath, a giant warrior appears with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all.
  21. 2 Samuel 21:21This giant taunts Israel, but is killed by Jonathan, David’s nephew, son of his brother Shimeah.
  22. 2 Samuel 21:22The text closes the list saying that these four giants of Gath all fell by the hand of David and his soldiers.

Chapters

123456789101112131415161718192021222324

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play