And 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: Upon Saul and upon his house there is injustice, because of his blood-guilt of death, in that he put the Gabaonites to death.
And King David called the Gabaonites and said to them — now the Gabaonites are not sons of Israel, but rather of the remnant of the Amorrite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them; yet Saul sought to strike them down in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.
And the Gabaonites said to him: There is no silver or gold for us with Saul and with his house, and there is no man for us to put to death in Israel. And he said: What do you say, and I will do it for you?
And they said to the king: The man who made an end of us and pursued us, who plotted to destroy us — let us wipe him out, so that he shall not stand in any territory of Israel.
Let seven men from among his sons be given to us, and let us hang them up in the sun to the Lord in Gabaon of Saul, the chosen of the Lord. And the king said: I will give them.
But the king spared Memphibosthe son of Ionathan son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Ionathan son of Saul.
And the king took the two sons of Respha daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Ermoni and Memphibosthe, and the five sons of Michol daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Esriel son of Berzelli the Moulathite;
and he gave them into the hand of the Gabaonites, and they hung them up in the sun on the mountain before the Lord; and the seven of them fell together. And they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
And Respha daughter of Aia took the sackcloth and spread it out for herself upon the rock, from the beginning of the barley harvest until water dripped upon them from heaven; and she did not let the birds of heaven rest upon them by day, nor the wild beasts of the field by night.
And it was reported to David all that Respha daughter of Aia, Saul's concubine, had done. And they grew faint, and Dan son of Ioa, of the descendants of the giants, overtook them.
And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Ionathan his son from the men of the sons of Iabis Galaad, who had stolen them from the public square of Baithsan, because the Philistines had set them up there on the day when the Philistines struck down Saul at Gelboue.
And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Ionathan his son, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hung up in the sun.
And they buried the bones of Saul and the bones of Ionathan his son and of those who had been hung in the sun in the land of Benjamin, on the slope, in the tomb of Kis his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after this God heeded the land.
And there was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down, and his servants with him, and they fought with the Philistines; and David grew faint.
And Iesbi, who was among the descendants of Rapha — and the weight of his spear was three hundred shekels of bronze in weight — and he was girded with a club, and he intended to strike David down.
But Abessa son of Sarouia came to his aid and struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then David's men swore, saying: You shall not go out with us to battle any more, and you shall not quench the lamp of Israel.
And it came to pass after this that there was war again at Geth with the Philistines. Then Sebocha the Astatothite struck down Seph, who was among the descendants of Rapha.
And there was war at Gob with the Philistines, and Eleanan son of Ariorgim the Baithleemite struck down Goliath the Geththite; and the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam.
And there was war again at Geth, and there was a man of Madon, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six and six, twenty-four in number; and he too was born to Rapha.