II Samuel 21

שמואל ב׳ פרק כ״א

Section: נביאים · נביאים ראשונים | Book: II Samuel | Chapter: 21 of 24 | Day: 97 of 742

Date: May 19, 2026

קלאוד על הנ״ך

Chapter 21 opens the four-chapter Appendix to Sefer Shmuel, a literary epilogue (chapters 21-24) that gathers materials out of strict chronological sequence and arranges them in a chiastic frame: famine narrative, list of warriors, song, song, list of warriors, census-and-plague narrative. The famine of three years that opens our chapter likely belongs to an earlier moment in Dovid’s reign, but its placement here is theological rather than chronological. The book that began with Channa’s barren womb in Shilo now closes with the barren land itself, and the question driving the Appendix is no longer “Who shall be king?” but “What does the land require of a king who has already been chosen?” Dovid’s response to the famine sets the tone for the entire epilogue: he seeks Hashem’s face (וַיְבַקֵּשׁ דָּוִד אֶת פְּנֵי ה’), and the answer he receives concerns not his own house but the unredeemed obligations of his predecessor.

The Givonim, the text reminds us, were not Israelites — they were a remnant of the Emori with whom Israel had sworn a binding covenant in the days of Yehoshua. Sha’ul, in his zeal for the children of Israel and Yehuda, had sought to strike them, and Sefer Shmuel never narrates this episode directly; Chazal (Yevamot 78b) link it to Sha’ul’s slaughter of the kohanim of Nov in I Shmuel 22, since the Givonim had served as woodchoppers and water-drawers for the Mishkan and so depended on Nov for their livelihood. The famine, then, is the land itself crying out for a covenant betrayed generations ago. When Dovid asks the Givonim what kapparah they require, they refuse silver and gold and refuse the offer of any Israelite life; they demand seven of Sha’ul’s descendants to be hanged “before Hashem in Giv’at Sha’ul, the chosen of Hashem.” Dovid hands over Armoni and Mefivoshet, the two sons of Ritzpah bat Aya, and five sons of Merav (the verse reads “Michal,” and the classical commentators address the textual difficulty — Rashi and Radak note the apparent confusion, and Chazal teach that Michal raised the boys her sister bore to Adriel ben Barzilai). Mefivoshet ben Yehonatan is spared because of Dovid’s oath to his father, and the chapter quietly stages the impossible knot of covenantal kingship: every faithful king inherits oaths he did not swear and must honor them at terrible cost.

The moral center of the chapter is not a king or a warrior but a former concubine. Ritzpah bat Aya takes sackcloth and spreads it on the rock and stays on the mountain “from the start of the harvest until water poured upon them from the heavens” — from the barley harvest in the spring through the first autumn rains, months of unbroken vigil during which she does not allow the birds of the heavens to settle on the bodies by day nor the beasts of the field by night. Tanakh has staged unnamed and forgotten women throughout Sefer Shmuel — the wise woman of Tekoa, the wise woman of Avel — whose presence reorients the moral compass of the king, and Ritzpah belongs to that lineage. She speaks no recorded word in the chapter; her sackcloth on the rock is the speech. When word of what she has done reaches Dovid, he is moved to retrieve the bones of Sha’ul and Yehonatan from Yavesh Gilead — the men of Yavesh having recovered them from Beit Shan after Sha’ul’s death on Mount Gilboa (I Shmuel 31) — and to bury them, together with the bones of the seven, in the tomb of Kish in the territory of Binyamin. Only then does the verse declare, וַיֵּעָתֵר אֱלֹהִים לָאָרֶץ אַחֲרֵי כֵן: God responded to the prayer for the land, and the famine ended. The land was waiting not only for justice but for honorable burial; the dead, even the executed, required a grave.

The chapter’s second half pivots to four short giant-slaying vignettes, a literary frame answering the chapter’s beginning. In the first, Dovid grows weary in battle and Yishbi-be-Nov, a descendant of the Rapha (the giants of Gat), nearly kills him; Avishai ben Tzeruyah rescues Dovid and slays the giant, and Dovid’s men swear that the king shall no longer go out to battle, “lest you extinguish the lamp of Israel” (פֶּן תְּכַבֶּה אֶת נֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל). The phrase ner Yisrael is freighted: it will echo forward into the covenantal language of the Davidic dynasty, the “lamp” that Hashem promises to preserve for the house of David in I Kings 11:36 and beyond. Three more vignettes follow in rapid succession: Sibekhai HaChushati kills Saf; Elchanan ben Yaarei Oregim kills Goliat HaGitti — a famous textual crux, since Dovid himself slew Goliat in I Shmuel 17, and the classical commentators offer several resolutions, with Rashi and Radak treating the figure as a different Goliat (a brother or descendant), and the parallel verse in I Divrei HaYamim 20:5 stating explicitly that Elchanan killed Lachmi the brother of Goliat; then a six-fingered, six-toed giant of twenty-four digits who taunts Israel and is killed by Yehonatan ben Shim’a, Dovid’s nephew.

Read as a unit, the chapter draws the great themes of Sefer Shmuel into its closing frame. Covenants outlive the kings who broke them; the land remembers what the chronicles do not record; an unnamed mourning woman can move a king more powerfully than a prophet’s rebuke; and the giants of Gat, who once seemed to threaten a young shepherd’s God, are systematically gathered up and felled by that shepherd’s veterans. The four vignettes are not appended trophies but the closing of an arc that began in the valley of Elah. Yet the chapter refuses triumphalism: Dovid is now too weary to fight his own battles, and the lamp of Israel must be guarded by others. The Appendix has begun by reminding its readers that kingship in Israel is always answerable — to ancient oaths, to the cry of the land, to the silent witness of the bereaved, and ultimately to Hashem, who alone responds to the prayer for the land when justice and mercy have been done.

פרק כ״א · Chapter 21

פסוק א׳ · Verse 1

Hebrew:

וַיְהִ֣י רָעָב֩ ��ִּימֵ֨י דָוִ֜ד שָׁלֹ֣שׁ שָׁנִ֗ים שָׁנָה֙ אַחֲרֵ֣י שָׁנָ֔ה וַיְבַקֵּ֥שׁ דָּוִ֖ד אֶת־פְּנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה {ס}        וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֗ה אֶל־שָׁאוּל֙ וְאֶל־בֵּ֣ית הַדָּמִ֔ים עַ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־הֵמִ֖ית אֶת־הַגִּבְעֹנִֽים׃

English:

There was a famine during the reign of David, year after year for three years. David inquired of GOD, and GOD replied, “It is because of the bloodguilt of Saul and [his] house, for he put some Gibeonites to death.”

פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2

Hebrew:

וַיִּקְרָ֥א הַמֶּ֛לֶךְ לַגִּבְעֹנִ֖ים וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וְהַגִּבְעֹנִ֞ים לֹ֣א מִבְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל הֵ֗מָּה כִּ֚י אִם־מִיֶּ֣תֶר הָאֱמֹרִ֔י וּבְנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ נִשְׁבְּע֣וּ לָהֶ֔ם וַיְבַקֵּ֤שׁ שָׁאוּל֙ לְהַכֹּתָ֔ם בְּקַנֹּאת֥וֹ לִבְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וִיהוּדָֽה׃

English:

The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.—Now the Gibeonites were not of Israelite stock, but a remnant of the Amorites, to whom the Israelites had given an oath; and Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.—

פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר דָּוִד֙ אֶל־הַגִּבְעֹנִ֔ים מָ֥ה אֶעֱשֶׂ֖ה לָכֶ֑ם וּבַמָּ֣ה אֲכַפֵּ֔ר וּבָרְכ֖וּ אֶת־נַחֲלַ֥ת יְהֹוָֽה׃

English:

David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make expiation, so that you may bless GOD’s own people?”

פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֧אמְרוּ ל֣וֹ הַגִּבְעֹנִ֗ים אֵֽין־[לָ֜נוּ] (לי) כֶּ֤סֶף וְזָהָב֙ עִם־שָׁא֣וּל וְעִם־בֵּית֔וֹ וְאֵֽין־לָ֥נוּ אִ֖ישׁ לְהָמִ֣ית בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֛אמֶר מָה־אַתֶּ֥ם אֹמְרִ֖ים אֶעֱשֶׂ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃

English:

The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no claim for silver or gold against Saul and his household; and we have no claim on the life of anyone else in Israel.” And [David] responded, “Whatever you say I will do for you.”

פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5

Hebrew:

וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ אֶל־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ הָאִישׁ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר כִּלָּ֔נוּ וַאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּמָּה־לָ֑נוּ נִשְׁמַ֕דְנוּ מֵהִתְיַצֵּ֖ב בְּכׇל־גְּבֻ֥ל יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

English:

Thereupon they said to the king, “The man who massacred us and planned to exterminate us, so that weaexterminate us, so that we Meaning of Heb. uncertain. should not survive in all the territory of Israel—

פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6

Hebrew:

(ינתן) [יֻתַּן־]לָ֜נוּ שִׁבְעָ֤ה אֲנָשִׁים֙ מִבָּנָ֔יו וְהוֹקַֽעֲנוּם֙ לַיהֹוָ֔ה בְּגִבְעַ֥ת שָׁא֖וּל בְּחִ֣יר יְהֹוָ֑ה {פ}וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אֲנִ֥י אֶתֵּֽן׃

English:

let seven of his male issue be handed over to us, and we will impale them before GOD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of GOD.”bGibeah of Saul, the chosen of GOD Emendation yields “at Gibeon, on the mountain of GOD” (cf. Septuagint and v. 9). And the king replied, “I will do so.”

פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7

Hebrew:

וַיַּחְמֹ֣ל הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ עַל־מְפִיבֹ֖שֶׁת בֶּן־יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בֶּן־שָׁא֑וּל עַל־שְׁבֻעַ֤ת יְהֹוָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בֵּינֹתָ֔ם בֵּ֣ין דָּוִ֔ד וּבֵ֖ין יְהוֹנָתָ֥ן בֶּן־שָׁאֽוּל׃

English:

The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of the oath before GOD between the two, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8

Hebrew:

וַיִּקַּ֣ח הַמֶּ֡לֶךְ א��ת־שְׁ֠נֵ֠י בְּנֵ֨י רִצְפָּ֤ה בַת־אַיָּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָלְדָ֣ה לְשָׁא֔וּל אֶת־אַרְמֹנִ֖י וְאֶת־מְפִבֹ֑שֶׁת וְאֶת־חֲמֵ֗שֶׁת בְּנֵי֙ מִיכַ֣ל בַּת־שָׁא֔וּל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָלְדָ֛ה לְעַדְרִיאֵ֥ל בֶּן־בַּרְזִלַּ֖י הַמְּחֹלָתִֽי׃

English:

Instead, the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons that Rizpah daughter of Aiah bore to Saul, and the five sons that MerabcMerab So two Heb. mss., many Septuagint mss., and Peshitta; and cf. Targum, Sanhedrin 19b, and 1 Sam. 18.19. Most mss. and the printed editions read “Michal.” daughter of Saul bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite,

פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9

Hebrew:

וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֞ם בְּיַ֣ד הַגִּבְעֹנִ֗ים וַיֹּקִיעֻ֤ם בָּהָר֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה וַיִּפְּל֥וּ (שבעתים) [שְׁבַעְתָּ֖ם] יָ֑חַד (והם) [וְהֵ֨מָּה] הֻמְת֜וּ בִּימֵ֤י קָצִיר֙ בָּרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים (תחלת) [בִּתְחִלַּ֖ת] קְצִ֥יר שְׂעֹרִֽים׃

English:

and he handed them over to the Gibeonites. They impaled them on the mountain before GOD; all seven of them perished at the same time. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest, the beginning of the barley harvest.

פסוק י״ · Verse 10

Hebrew:

וַתִּקַּ֣ח רִצְפָּה֩ בַת־אַיָּ֨ה אֶת־הַשַּׂ֜ק וַתַּטֵּ֨הוּ לָ֤הּ אֶל־הַצּוּר֙ מִתְּחִלַּ֣ת קָצִ֔יר עַ֛ד נִתַּךְ־מַ֥יִם עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מִן־הַשׁ��ָמָ֑יִם וְלֹֽא־נָתְנָה֩ ע֨וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם לָנ֤וּחַ עֲלֵיהֶם֙ יוֹמָ֔ם וְאֶת־חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה לָֽיְלָה׃

English:

Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it on a rock for herself, and she stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until rain from the sky fell on the bodies;dthe bodies Heb. “them.” she did not let the birds of the sky settle on them by day or the wild beasts [approach] by night.

פסוק י״א · Verse 11

Hebrew:

וַיֻּגַּ֖ד לְדָוִ֑ד אֵ֧ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשְׂתָ֛ה רִצְפָּ֥ה בַת־אַיָּ֖ה פִּלֶ֥גֶשׁ שָׁאֽוּל׃

English:

David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah daughter of Aiah had done.

פסוק י״ב · Verse 12

Hebrew:

וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ דָּוִ֗ד וַיִּקַּ֞ח אֶת־עַצְמ֤וֹת שָׁאוּל֙ וְאֶת־עַצְמוֹת֙ יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנ֔וֹ מֵאֵ֕ת בַּעֲלֵ֖י יָבֵ֣ישׁ גִּלְעָ֑ד אֲשֶׁר֩ גָּנְב֨וּ אֹתָ֜ם מֵרְחֹ֣ב בֵּֽית־שַׁ֗ן אֲשֶׁ֨ר (תלום שם הפלשתים) [תְּלָא֥וּם שָׁ֙מָּה֙ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים] בְּי֨וֹם הַכּ֧וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּ֛ים אֶת־שָׁא֖וּל בַּגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃

English:

And David went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead, who had made off with them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up on the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.

פסוק י״ג · Verse 13

Hebrew:

וַיַּ֤עַל מִשָּׁם֙ אֶת־עַצְמ֣וֹת שָׁא֔וּל וְאֶת־עַצְמ֖וֹת יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנ֑וֹ וַיַּ֣אַסְפ֔וּ אֶת־עַצְמ֖וֹת הַמּוּקָעִֽים׃

English:

He brought up the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from there; and he gathered the bones of those who had been impaled.

פסוק י״ד · Verse 14

Hebrew:

וַיִּקְבְּר֣וּ אֶת־עַצְמוֹת־שָׁא֣וּל וִיהוֹנָֽתָן־בּ��֠נ֠וֹ בְּאֶ֨רֶץ בִּנְיָמִ֜ן בְּצֵלָ֗ע בְּקֶ֙בֶר֙ קִ֣ישׁ אָבִ֔יו וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֔וּ כֹּ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖ה הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וַיֵּעָתֵ֧ר אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָאָ֖רֶץ אַחֲרֵי־כֵֽן׃ {פ}

English:

And they buried the bones of Saul and of his son JonathaneJonathan Septuagint adds “and the bones of those impaled.” in Zela, in the territory of Benjamin, in the tomb of his father Kish. And when all that the king had commanded was done, God responded to the plea of the land thereafter.

פסוק ט״ו · Verse 15

Hebrew:

וַתְּהִי־ע֧וֹד מִלְחָמָ֛ה לַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיֵּ֨רֶד דָּוִ֜ד וַעֲבָדָ֥יו עִמּ֛וֹ וַיִּלָּחֲמ֥וּ אֶת־פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים וַיָּ֥עַף דָּוִֽד׃

English:

Again war broke out between the Philistines and Israel, and David and the men with him went down and fought the Philistines; David grew weary,

פסוק ט״ז · Verse 16

Hebrew:

(וישבו) [וְיִשְׁבִּ֨י] בְנֹ֜ב אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ בִּילִידֵ֣י הָרָפָ֗ה וּמִשְׁקַ֤ל קֵינוֹ֙ שְׁלֹ֤שׁ מֵאוֹת֙ מִשְׁקַ֣ל נְחֹ֔שֶׁת וְה֖וּא חָג֣וּר חֲדָשָׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֖אמֶר לְהַכּ֥וֹת אֶת־דָּוִֽד׃

English:

and Ishbi-benobfIshbi-benob Meaning of Heb. uncertain. tried to kill David.—He was a descendant of the Raphah;gRaphah Apparently a race of giants. his bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and he wore new armor.—

פסוק י״ז · Verse 17

Hebrew:

וַיַּֽעֲזׇר־לוֹ֙ אֲבִישַׁ֣י בֶּן־צְרוּיָ֔ה וַיַּ֥ךְ אֶת־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֖י וַיְמִתֵ֑הוּ אָ֣ז נִשְׁבְּעוּ֩ אַנְשֵֽׁי־דָוִ֨ד ל֜וֹ לֵאמֹ֗ר לֹא־תֵצֵ֨א ע֤וֹ�� אִתָּ֙נוּ֙ לַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְלֹ֥א תְכַבֶּ֖ה אֶת־נֵ֥ר יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ {פ}

English:

But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid; he attacked the Philistine and killed him. It was then that David’s men declared to him on oath, “You shall not go with us into battle anymore, lest you extinguish the lamp of Israel!”

פסוק י״ח · Verse 18

Hebrew:

וַֽיְהִי֙ אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֔ן וַתְּהִי־ע֧וֹד הַמִּלְחָמָ֛ה בְּג֖וֹב עִם־פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים אָ֣ז הִכָּ֗ה סִבְּכַי֙ הַחֻ֣שָׁתִ֔י אֶת־סַ֕ף אֲשֶׁ֖ר בִּילִדֵ֥י הָרָפָֽה׃ {ס}        

English:

hThis paragraph is found also in 1 Chron. 20.4–8; in part, also in 1QSamᵃ, with some variations. After this, fighting broke out again with the Philistines, at Gob; that was when Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, a descendant of the Raphah.iRaphah Apparently a race of giants.

פסוק י״ט · Verse 19

Hebrew:

וַתְּהִי־ע֧וֹד הַמִּלְחָמָ֛ה בְּג֖וֹב עִם־פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים וַיַּ֡ךְ אֶלְחָנָן֩ בֶּן־יַעְרֵ֨י אֹרְגִ֜ים בֵּ֣ית הַלַּחְמִ֗י אֵ֚ת גׇּלְיָ֣ת הַגִּתִּ֔י וְעֵ֣ץ חֲנִית֔וֹ כִּמְנ֖וֹר אֹרְגִֽים׃ {ס}        

English:

Again there was fighting with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregimjJaare-oregim Perhaps a duplicate of ʼoregim (“weavers”) at the end of the verse; meaning of Heb. uncertain. 1 Chron. 20.5 reads “And Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite.” the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like a weaver’s bar.

פסוק כ׳ · Verse 20

Hebrew:

וַתְּהִי־ע֥וֹד מִלְחָמָ֖ה בְּגַ֑ת וַיְהִ֣י ׀ אִ֣ישׁ (מדין) [מָד֗וֹן] וְאֶצְבְּעֹ֣ת יָדָיו֩ וְאֶצְבְּעֹ֨ת רַגְלָ֜יו שֵׁ֣שׁ וָשֵׁ֗שׁ עֶשְׂרִ֤ים וְאַרְבַּע֙ מִסְפָּ֔ר וְגַם־ה֖וּא יֻלַּ֥ד לְהָרָפָֽה׃

English:

Once again there was fighting, at Gath. There was a giant of a manka giant of a man Following the kethib, in light of 1 Chron. 20.6; meaning of Heb. uncertain. Or “an adversary,” following the qere; cf. Gersonides. who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all; he too was descended from the Raphah.

פסוק כ״א · Verse 21

Hebrew:

וַיְחָרֵ֖ף אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיַּכֵּ֙הוּ֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן בֶּן־[שִׁמְעָ֖ה] (שמעי) אֲחִ֥י דָוִֽד׃

English:

When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of David’s brother Shimei, killed him.

פסוק כ״ב · Verse 22

Hebrew:

אֶת־אַרְבַּ֥עַת אֵ֛לֶּה יֻלְּד֥וּ לְהָרָפָ֖ה בְּגַ֑ת וַיִּפְּל֥וּ בְיַד־דָּוִ֖ד וּבְיַ֥ד עֲבָדָֽיו׃ {פ}

English:

Those four were descended from the Raphah in Gath, and they fell by the hands of David and his men.

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