1Durante 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”.2O 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.)3Davi perguntou aos gibeonitas: “Que posso fazer por vocês? Como posso reparar o que foi feito, para que abençoem a herança do SENHOR?”4Os 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?”,5e eles responderam: “Quanto ao homem que quase nos exterminou e que pretendia destruir-nos, para que não tivéssemos lugar em Israel,6que sete descendentes dele sejam executados perante o SENHOR, em Gibeá de Saul, no monte do SENHOR”. “Eu os entregarei a vocês”, disse o rei.7O 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.8Mas o rei mandou buscar Armoni e Mefibosete, os dois filhos que Rispa, filha de Aiá, tinha dado a Saul. Com eles também os cinco filhos que Merabe[1], filha de Saul, tinha dado a Adriel, filho de Barzilai, de Meolá.9Ele 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.10Então 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.11Quando Davi foi informado do que Rispa, filha de Aiá, concubina de Saul, havia feito,12mandou 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.)13Davi trouxe de lá os ossos de Saul e de seu filho Jônatas, recolhidos dentre os ossos dos que haviam sido executados.14Enterraram 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 tinha ordenado. Depois disso Deus respondeu às orações em favor da terra de Israel.
Guerras contra os Filisteus
15Houve, ainda, outra batalha entre os filisteus e Israel; Davi e seus soldados foram lutar contra os filisteus. Davi se cansou muito,16e Isbi-Benobe, descendente de Rafa, prometeu matar Davi. (A ponta de bronze da lança de Isbi-Benobe pesava três quilos e seiscentos gramas[2], e, além disso, ele estava armado com uma espada nova.)17Mas 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”.18Houve depois outra batalha contra os filisteus, em Gobe. Naquela ocasião Sibecai, de Husate, matou Safe, um dos descendentes de Rafa.19Noutra batalha contra os filisteus em Gobe, Elanã, filho de Jaaré-Oregim,[3] de Belém, matou Golias,[4] de Gate, que possuía uma lança cuja haste parecia uma lançadeira de tecelão.20Noutra 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 Rafa21e desafiou Israel, mas Jônatas, filho de Simeia, irmão de Davi, o matou.22Esses quatro eram descendentes de Rafa, em Gate, e foram mortos por Davi e seus soldados.
1Now 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.” (Nm 27:21)2So 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. (Js 9:3)3And 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?” (1 Sm 26:19)4The 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?”5They 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,6let 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.” (1 Sm 10:24; 1 Sm 10:26; 1 Sm 11:4)7But 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. (1 Sm 20:8; 1 Sm 20:42; 1 Sm 23:18)8The 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[1] the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; (Gn 50:23; 1 Sm 18:19; 2 Sm 3:7)9and 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. (Rt 1:22)10Then 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. (Dt 21:23)11When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,12David 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. (Js 17:11; 1 Sm 31:10; 2 Sm 2:4)13And 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.14And 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. (Js 18:28; 2 Sm 24:25)
War with the Philistines
15There 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.16And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels[2] of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. (2 Sm 21:18; 2 Sm 21:20; 2 Sm 21:22)17But 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.” (2 Sm 18:3; 2 Sm 22:29; 1 Rs 11:36; 1 Rs 15:4; 2 Rs 8:19; 2 Cr 21:7; Sl 132:17)18After 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. (2 Sm 21:16; 2 Sm 21:20; 2 Sm 21:22; 2 Sm 23:27; 1 Cr 11:29; 1 Cr 20:4; 1 Cr 27:11)19And 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.[3] (1 Sm 17:7; 2 Sm 23:24; 1 Cr 20:5)20And 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. (2 Sm 21:16; 2 Sm 21:18)21And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. (1 Sm 17:10; 1 Sm 17:25; 1 Sm 17:36; 1 Sm 17:45)22These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. (2 Sm 21:20)