2 Samuel 21:1–14

David and the People of Gibeon

¹In the time of David, there was a famine for three successive years, and David asked the Lord’s advice about it. The Lord answered, “It’s because of Saul and his family. They are guilty of murder because they killed the people of Gibeon.” 

²(The Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were left over from the Amorites. Although the Israelites had sworn ⸤to spare them⸥, Saul, in his eagerness, tried to destroy them for Israel and Judah.) 

The king called the Gibeonites ³and asked them, “What can I do for you? What should I ⸤give you⸥ to make peace with you so that you will bless what belongs to the Lord?” 

⁴“We do not want silver or gold from Saul’s family,” the Gibeonites answered him. “And none of us wants to kill ⸤anyone⸥ in Israel.” 

The king asked, “What are you saying that I should do for you?” 

⁵They answered the king, “Give us seven of the male descendants of the man who wanted to finish us off. He planned to wipe us out to keep us from staying anywhere in Israel’s territory. ⁶We will execute them in the Lord’s presence at Saul’s town Gibeah.” (It was Saul whom the Lord had chosen.) 

“I will give them ⸤to you⸥,” the king said. 

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson, because of the oath in the Lord’s name between David and Jonathan, son of Saul. ⁸The king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons whom Rizpah (Aiah’s daughter) gave birth to for Saul, and five sons whom Merab^a(Saul’s daughter) gave birth to for Adriel, son of Barzillai from Meholah. ⁹The king handed them over to the Gibeonites, who executed them on the mountain in the Lord’s presence. All seven died together. They were killed at the beginning of the harvest, when people started harvesting barley. 

¹⁰Rizpah (Aiah’s daughter) took sackcloth and stretched it out on the rock for herself from the beginning of the harvest until the sky rained on the dead bodies. She wouldn’t let any birds land on them during the day or any wild animals come near them during the night. 

¹¹When David was told what Saul’s concubine^bRizpah (Aiah’s daughter) had done, ¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the citizens of Jabesh Gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth Shean, where the Philistines had hung them the day they killed Saul at Gilboa. ¹³When David brought up the bones of Saul and Jonathan, his men gathered the bones of those who had been executed. ¹⁴Then they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, in Zela, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. They did everything the king ordered. After that, God answered the prayers for the land.