Liber II Samuelis, 21

1. facta est quoque fames in diebus David tribus annis jugiter et consuluit David oraculum Domini dixitque Dominus propter Saul et domum ejus et sanguinem quia occidit Gabaonitas

1. And there was a famine in the days of David for three years successively: and David consulted the oracle of the Lord. And the Lord said: It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gabaonites.

2. vocatis ergo Gabaonitis rex dixit ad eos porro Gabaonitæ non sunt de filiis Israël sed reliquiæ Amorreorum filii quippe Israël juraverant eis et voluit Saul percutere eos zelo quasi pro filiis Israël et Juda

2. Then the king, calling for the Gabaonites, said to them: (Now the Gabaonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remains of the Amorrhites: I and the children of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul sought to slay them out of zeal, as it were for the children of Israel and Juda:)

3. dixit ergo David ad Gabaonitas quid faciam vobis et quod erit vestri piaculum ut benedicatis hereditati Domini

3. David therefore said to the Gabaonites: What shall I do for you? and what shall be the atonement for you, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

4. dixeruntque ei Gabaonitæ non est nobis super argento et auro quæstio contra Saul et contra domum ejus neque volumus ut interficiatur homo de Israël ad quos ait quid ergo vultis ut faciam vobis

4. And the Gabaonites said to him: We have no contest about silver and gold, but against Saul and against his house: neither do we desire that any man be slain of Israel. And the king said to them: What will you then that I should do for you?

5. qui dixerunt regi virum qui adtrivit nos et oppressit inique ita delere debemus ut ne unus quidem residuus sit de stirpe ejus in cunctis finibus Israël

5. And they said to the king: The man that crushed us and oppressed us unjustly, we must destroy in such manner that there be not so much as one left of his stock in all the coasts of Israel.

6. dentur nobis septem viri de filiis ejus et crucifigamus eos Domino in Gabaath Saul quondam electi Domini et ait rex ego dabo

6. Let seven men of his children be delivered unto us, that we may crucify them to the Lord in Gabaa of Saul, once the chosen of the Lord. And the king said: I will give them.

7. pepercitque rex Mifiboseth filio Jonathan filii Saul propter jusiurandum Domini quod fuerat inter David et inter Jonathan filium Saul

7. And the king spared Miphiboseth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the oath of the Lord, that had been between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8. tulit itaque rex duos filios Respha filiæ Ahia quos peperit Saul Armoni et Mifiboseth et quinque filios Michol filiæ Saul quos genuerat Hadriheli filio Berzellai qui fuit de Molathi

8. So the king took the two sons of Respha the daughter of Aia, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni, and Miphiboseth: and the five sons of Michol the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Hadriel the son of Berzellai, that was of Molathi:

9. et dedit eos in manu Gabaonitarum qui crucifixerunt illos in monte coram Domino et ceciderunt hii septem simul occisi in diebus messis primis incipiente messione hordei

9. And gave them into the hands of the Gabaonites: and they crucified them on a hill before the Lord: and these seven died together in the first days of the harvest, when the barley began to be reaped.

10. tollens autem Respha filia Ahia cilicium substravit sibi super petram ab initio messis donec stillaret aqua super eos de cælo et non dimisit aves lacerare eos per diem neque bestias per noctem

10. And Respha the daughter of Aia took haircloth, and spread it under her upon the rock from the beginning of the harvest, till water dropped upon them out of heaven: and suffered neither the birds to tear them by day, nor the beasts by night.

11. et nuntiata sunt David quæ fecerat Respha filia Ahia concubina Saul

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

12. et abiit David et tulit ossa Saul et ossa Jonathan filii ejus a viris Jabesgalaad qui furati fuerant ea de platea Bethsan in qua suspenderant eos Philisthim cum interfecissent Saul in Gelbœ

12. And David went, and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabes Galaad, who had stolen them from the street of Bethsan, where the Philistines had hanged them when they had slain Saul in Gelboe.

13. et asportavit inde ossa Saul et ossa Jonathan filii ejus et colligentes ossa eorum qui adfixi fuerant

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

14. sepelierunt ea cum ossibus Saul et Jonathan filii ejus in terra Beniamin in latere in sepulchro Cis patris ejus feceruntque omnia quæ præceperat rex et repropitiatus est Deus terræ post hæc

14. And they buried them with the bones of Saul, and of Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin, in the side, in the sepulchre of Cis his father: and they did all that the king had commanded, and God shewed mercy again to the land after these things.

15. factum est autem rursum prœlium Philisthinorum adversum Israël et descendit David et servi ejus cum eo et pugnabant contra Philisthim deficiente autem David

15. And the Philistines made war again against Israel, and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David growing faint,

16. Jesbidenob qui fuit de genere Arafa cujus ferrum hastæ trecentas uncias adpendebat et accinctus erat ense novo nisus est percutere David

16. Jesbibenob, who was of the race of Arapha, the iron of whose spear weighed three hundred ounces, being girded with a new sword, attempted to kill David.

17. præsidioque ei fuit Abisai filius Sarviæ et percussum Philistheum interfecit tunc juraverunt viri David dicentes non egredieris nobiscum in bellum ne extinguas lucernam Israël

17. And Abisai the son of Sarvia rescued him, and striking the Philistine killed him. Then David's men swore unto him, saying: Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, lest thou put out the lamp of Israel.

18. secundum quoque fuit bellum in Gob contra Philistheos tunc percussit Sobbochai de Usathi Seph de stirpe Arafa

18. There was also a second battle in Gob against the Philistines: then Sobochai of Husathi slew Saph of the race of Arapha of the family of the giants.

19. tertium quoque fuit bellum in Gob contra Philistheos in quo percussit Adeodatus filius Saltus polymitarius bethleemites Goliath Gettheum cujus hastile hastæ erat quasi liciatorium texentium

19. And there was a third battle in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus the son of the Forrest an embroiderer of Bethlehem slew Goliath the Gethite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

20. quartum bellum fuit in Geth in quo vir excelsus qui senos in manibus pedibusque habebat digitos id est viginti et quattuor et erat de origine Arafa

20. A fourth battle was in Geth. where there was a man of great stature, that had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, four and twenty in all, and he was of the race of Arapha.

21. blasphemavit Israël percussit autem eum Jonathan filius Sammaa fratris David

21. And he reproached Israel: and Jonathan the son of Samae the brother of David slew him.

22. hii quattuor nati sunt de Arafa in Geth et ceciderunt in manu David et servorum ejus

22. These four were born of Arapha in Geth, and they fell by the hand of David, and of his servants.