The Gibeonites Punish Saul’s Family

21 During the time David was king, there was a ·shortage of food [famine] that lasted for three years. So David ·prayed to [inquired of; consulted; ^Lsought the face/presence of] the Lord.

The Lord answered, “Saul and his ·family of murderers [^Lbloody house] are the reason for this shortage, because he ·killed [murdered] the Gibeonites.” ² (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were ·a group of Amorites who were left alive [^Lthe remnant of the Amorites]. The Israelites had ·promised [sworn; vowed; Josh. 9:14–15] not to hurt the Gibeonites, but Saul had tried to ·kill [annihilate; exterminate] them, because ·he was eager to help [of his zeal for] the people of Israel and Judah.)

King David called the Gibeonites together and spoke to them. ³ He asked, “What can I do for you? How can I make ·up [amends; expiation; atonement] for the harm done so you can bless the Lord’s ·people [^Linheritance]?”

⁴ The Gibeonites said to David, “We cannot ·demand [settle this with] silver or gold from Saul or his ·family [^Lhouse]. And ·we don’t have the right [^Lit’s not for us] to kill anyone in Israel.”

Then David asked, “·What do you want me to do for you [Tell me what to do and I will do it]?”

⁵ The Gibeonites said, “·Saul [^LThe man] ·made plans against [destroyed; consumed] us and ·tried to destroy [planned to annihilate/exterminate] all our people ·who are [so we would have no place] left in the land of Israel. ⁶ So bring seven of his sons to us. Then we will ·kill them and hang them on stakes [impale/execute them] in the presence of the Lord at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord’s chosen king.”

The king said, “I will give them to you.” ⁷ But the king ·protected [spared] Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the ·promise [oath] he had made to Jonathan in the Lord’s name [1 Sam. 20:14–17]. ⁸ The king did take Armoni and Mephibosheth [^Cnot Jonathan’s son, but another person with the same name], sons of Rizpah and Saul [3:7]. (Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah.) And the king took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab [1 Sam. 14:49; 18:17–19]. (Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite was the father of Merab’s five sons.) ⁹ David gave these seven sons to the Gibeonites. Then the Gibeonites ·killed them and hung them on stakes on a hill [impaled/executed them] in the presence of the Lord. All seven sons ·died [fell] together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest season at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰ Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took ·the rough cloth [burlap; sackcloth; ^Ca sign of mourning or distress] and put it on a rock for herself. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on ·her sons’ bodies [^Lthem from the heavens/sky]. During the day she did not let the ·birds of the sky [scavenger birds] touch her sons’ bodies, and during the night she did not let the wild animals touch them.

¹¹ People told David what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s ·slave woman [^Lconcubine; ^Ca secondary wife; 3:7], was doing. ¹² Then David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. (The Philistines had hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan in the public square of Beth Shan after they had killed Saul at Gilboa. Later the men of Jabesh Gilead ·had secretly taken [stole] them from there [1 Sam. 31:8–13].) ¹³ David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from Gilead. Then the people gathered the ·bodies of Saul’s seven sons who were hanged on stakes [bones of those who had been impaled/executed]. ¹⁴ The people buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. The people did everything the king commanded.

Then God ·answered the prayers for [took pity on] the land.