2nd Samuel 撒母耳记下21

21During the reign¹ of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord . The Lord said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death."
2The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke² to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors³ of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal⁴ for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate⁵ them.)
3David asked the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you? How shall I make amends⁶ so that you will bless the Lord 's inheritance?"
4The Gibeonites answered him, "We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death." "What do you want me to do for you?" David asked.
5They answered the king, "As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel,
6let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and exposed before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul-the Lord 's chosen one." So the king said, "I will give them to you."
7The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
8But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah's daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed them on a hill before the Lord . All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley⁷ harvest was beginning.
10Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest till the rain poured down from the heavens on the bodies, she did not let the birds of the air touch them by day or the wild animals by night.
11When David was told what Aiah's daughter Rizpah, Saul's concubine, had done,
12he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. (They had taken them secretly from the public square at Beth Shan, where the Philistines⁹ had hung them after they struck Saul down on Gilboa.)
13David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and the bones of those who had been killed and exposed were gathered up.
14They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the tomb of Saul's father Kish, at Zela in Benjamin, and did everything the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.
15Once again there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and he became exhausted¹⁰.
16And Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was armed with a new sword , said he would kill David.
17But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David's rescue; he struck the Philistine⁸ down and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, saying, "Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished."
18In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.
19In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft¹¹ like a weaver's rod.
20In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot-twenty-four in all. He also was descended¹² from Rapha.
21When he taunted¹³ Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him.
22These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men.

1 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 zeal   

n.热心，热情，热忱

参考例句：

• Revolutionary zeal caught them up,and they joined the army.革命热情激励他们，于是他们从军了。
• They worked with great zeal to finish the project.他们热情高涨地工作，以期完成这个项目。

5 annihilate   

v.使无效；毁灭；取消

参考例句：

• Archer crumpled up the yellow sheet as if the gesture could annihilate the news it contained.阿切尔把这张黄纸揉皱，好象用这个动作就会抹掉里面的消息似的。
• We should bear in mind that we have to annihilate the enemy.我们要把歼敌的重任时刻记在心上。

6 amends   

n. 赔偿

参考例句：

• He made amends for his rudeness by giving her some flowers. 他送给她一些花，为他自己的鲁莽赔罪。
• This country refuses stubbornly to make amends for its past war crimes. 该国顽固地拒绝为其过去的战争罪行赔罪。

7 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

8 philistine   

n.庸俗的人；adj.市侩的，庸俗的

参考例句：

• I believe he seriously thinks me an awful Philistine.我相信，他真的认为我是个不可救药的庸人。
• Do you know what a philistine is,jim?吉姆，知道什么是庸俗吗?

9 philistines   

n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子

参考例句：

• He accused those who criticized his work of being philistines. 他指责那些批评他的作品的人是对艺术一窍不通。 来自辞典例句
• As an intellectual Goebbels looked down on the crude philistines of the leading group in Munich. 戈培尔是个知识分子，看不起慕尼黑领导层不学无术的市侩庸人。 来自辞典例句

10 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

11 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

12 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

13 taunted   

嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落

参考例句：

• The other kids continually taunted him about his size. 其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
• Some of the girls taunted her about her weight. 有些女孩子笑她胖。