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Today's Bible Reading :: 2 Samuel 19 - 21 (ESV)

2 Samuel 19Listen to the passage

2 Samuel 20Listen to the passage

2 Samuel 21Listen to the passage

2 Samuel 19

Joab Rebukes David

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:1 - It was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:2 - So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:3 - And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:4 - The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:5 - Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “You have today covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:6 - because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:7 - Now therefore arise, go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the LORD, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:8 - Then the king arose and took his seat in the gate. And the people were all told, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate.” And all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his own home.

David Returns to Jerusalem

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:9 - And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:10 - But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:11 - And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king?[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:12 - You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:13 - And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also, if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:14 - And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, “Return, both you and all your servants.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:15 - So the king came back to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan.

David Pardons His Enemies

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:16 - And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:17 - And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. And Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, with his fifteen sons and his twenty servants, rushed down to the Jordan before the king,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:18 - and they crossed the ford to bring over the king’s household and to do his pleasure. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:19 - and said to the king, “Let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:20 - For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:21 - Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered, “Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:22

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:22 - But David said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:23

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:23 - And the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king gave him his oath.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:24

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:24 - And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. He had neither taken care of his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:25

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:25 - And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:26

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:26 - He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me, for your servant said to him, ‘I will saddle a donkey for myself,[fn] that I may ride on it and go with the king.’ For your servant is lame.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:27

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:27 - He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like the angel of God; do therefore what seems good to you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:28

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:28 - For all my father’s house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king, but you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What further right have I, then, to cry to the king?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:29

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:29 - And the king said to him, “Why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:30

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:30 - And Mephibosheth said to the king, “Oh, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:31

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:31 - Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim, and he went on with the king to the Jordan, to escort him over the Jordan.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:32

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:32 - Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:33

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:33 - And the king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:34

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:34 - But Barzillai said to the king, “How many years have I still to live, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:35

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:35 - I am this day eighty years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:36

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:36 - Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:37

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:37 - Please let your servant return, that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham. Let him go over with my lord the king, and do for him whatever seems good to you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:38

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:38 - And the king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do for him whatever seems good to you, and all that you desire of me I will do for you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:39

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:39 - Then all the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. And the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and he returned to his own home.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:40

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:40 - The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him. All the people of Judah, and also half the people of Israel, brought the king on his way.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:41

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:41 - Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen you away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, and all David’s men with him?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:42

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:42 - All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why then are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Or has he given us any gift?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 19:43

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 19:43 - And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
ESV Footnotes
Septuagint; Hebrew to the king, to his house
Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate Saddle a donkey for me

2 Samuel 20

The Rebellion of Sheba

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:1 - Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,
“We have no portion in David,
and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;
every man to his tents, O Israel!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:2 - So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:3 - And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:4 - Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:5 - So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:6 - And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.”[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:7 - And there went out after him Joab’s men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:8 - When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:9 - And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:10 - But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:11 - And one of Joab’s young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:12 - And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:13 - When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:14 - And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah,[fn] and all the Bichrites[fn] assembled and followed him in.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:15 - And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:16 - Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:17 - And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:18 - Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:19 - I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:20 - Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:21 - That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:22

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:22 - Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:23

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:23 - Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites;

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:24

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:24 - and Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:25

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:25 - and Sheva was secretary; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 20:26

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 20:26 - and Ira the Jairite was also David’s priest.
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew and snatch away our eyes
Compare 20:15; Hebrew and Beth-maacah
Hebrew Berites

2 Samuel 21

David Avenges the Gibeonites

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:1 - Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:2 - So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:3 - And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:4 - The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:5 - They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:6 - let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:7 - But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:8 - The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab[fn] the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:9 - and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:10 - Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:11 - When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:12 - David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:13 - And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:14 - And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

War with the Philistines

(1Ch 20:4–8 )

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:15 - There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:16 - And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels[fn] of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:17 - But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:18 - After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:19 - And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:20 - And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:21 - And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 21:22

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 21:22 - These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
See the ESV Preface
ESV Footnotes
Two Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts Michal
A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
Contrast 1 Chronicles 20:5, which may preserve the original reading
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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