JUSTICE FOR THE GIBEONITES

21 During David’s reign there was a famine for three successive years, so David inquiredB of the Lord. The Lord answered, “It is due to Saul and to his bloody family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

2 The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them,d but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. 3 He asked the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? How can I make atonement so that you will bring a blessing onC the Lord’s inheritance?”

4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We are not asking for silver and gold from Saul or his family,e and we cannot put anyone to death in Israel.”f

“Whatever you say, I will do for you,” he said.

5 They replied to the king, “As for the man who annihilated us and plotted to destroy us so we would not exist within the whole territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us so we may hangD them in the presence of the Lordg at Gibeah of Saul,h the Lord’s chosen.”i

The king answered, “I will hand them over.”

7 David spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.j 8 But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, who were the two sons whom Rizpahk daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul, and the five sons whom MerabE,l daughter of Saul had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite 9 and handed them over to the Gibeonites. They hanged* them on the hill in the presence of the Lord; the seven of them died together. They were executed in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of the barley harvest.G

THE BURIAL OF SAUL’S FAMILY

10 Rizpah, Aiah’s daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvestH until the rain poured down from heaven on the bodies. She kept the birds of the sky from them by day and the wild animals by night.

11 When it was reported to David what Saul’s concubine Rizpah daughter of Aiah had done, 12 he went and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies the day the Philistines killed Saul at Gilboa.m 13 David had the bones brought from there. They gathered up the bones of Saul’s family who had been hanged 14 and buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in the land of Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After this, God was receptive to prayer for the land.n