²¹ Now swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!”

²³ “Swear to me in God’s name that you will never deceive me, my children, or any of my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so now swear that you will be loyal to me and to this country where you are living as a foreigner.”

⁶ So let seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord at Gibeon, on the mountain of the Lord.^[a]”

“All right,” the king said, “I will do it.” ⁷ The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth,^[b] who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord. ⁸ But he gave them Saul’s two sons Armoni and Mephibosheth, whose mother was Rizpah daughter of Aiah. He also gave them the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab,^[c] the wife of Adriel son of Barzillai from Meholah.

¹⁴ And may you treat me with the faithful love of the Lord as long as I live. But if I die, ¹⁵ treat my family with this faithful love, even when the Lord destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.”

¹⁶ So Jonathan made a solemn pact with David,^[a] saying, “May the Lord destroy all your enemies!” ¹⁷ And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

¹⁶ Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.

⁵³ I call on the God of our ancestors—the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of my grandfather Nahor—to serve as a judge between us.”

So Jacob took an oath before the fearsome God of his father, Isaac,^[a] to respect the boundary line.

⁴⁸ Then Laban declared, “This pile of stones will stand as a witness to remind us of the covenant we have made today.” This explains why it was called Galeed—“Witness Pile.”