Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A song of praise.

Saul’s Family Punished

21 While David was king, there was a famine that continued for three years. So David prayed to the Lord. And the Lord answered, “Saul and his family of murderers^[a] are the reason for the famine, because he killed the Gibeonites.” ² (The Gibeonites were not Israelites. They were a group of Amorites. The Israelites had promised not to hurt them,^[b] but Saul tried to kill the Gibeonites. He did this because of his strong feelings for the people of Israel and Judah.)

King David called the Gibeonites together and talked to them. ³ David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you? What can I do to take away Israel’s sin, so that you can bless the Lord’s people?”

⁴ The Gibeonites said to David, “There isn’t enough gold and silver for Saul’s family to pay for what they did. But we don’t have the right to kill anyone else in Israel.”

David said, “Well, what can I do for you?”

⁵ The Gibeonites said to King David, “The person who plotted against us was Saul. He is the one who tried to destroy all our people living in the land of Israel. ⁶ Give us seven of Saul’s sons. Saul was the Lord’s chosen king,^[c] so we will hang his sons in front of the Lord on Mount Gibeah of Saul.”

King David said, “All right, I will give them to you.” ⁷ But the king protected Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. Jonathan was Saul’s son, and David had made a promise in the Lord’s name to Jonathan.^[d] So the king did not let them hurt Mephibosheth. ⁸ David gave them Armoni and Mephibosheth.^[e] These were the sons of Saul and Rizpah. Saul also had a daughter named Merab who was married to Adriel son of Barzillai, from Meholah. David took the five sons of Merab and Adriel. ⁹ David gave these seven men to the Gibeonites who then brought them to Mount Gibeah and hanged them in front of the Lord. Those seven men died together in the spring, during the first days of the barley harvest.

David and Rizpah

¹⁰ Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took a mourning cloth and put it on the rock.^[f] That cloth stayed on the rock from the time the harvest began until the rains came. Rizpah watched the bodies day and night. She protected them from the wild birds during the day and the wild animals at night.

¹¹ People told David what Saul’s slave woman Rizpah was doing. ¹² Then David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. (The men of Jabesh Gilead got these bones after Saul and Jonathan were killed at Gilboa. The Philistines had hanged the bodies of Saul and Jonathan on a wall in Beth Shan.^[g] But the men of Beth Shan went there and stole the bodies from that public area.) ¹³ David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from Jabesh Gilead and buried them with the bodies of the seven men who were hanged. ¹⁴ They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the area of Benjamin, in one of the tunnels in the grave of Saul’s father Kish, as the king commanded. After that God again listened to the prayers of the people in that land.

³ We thank God for you always. And that’s what we should do, because you give us good reason to be thankful: Your faith is growing more and more. And the love that every one of you has for each other is also growing. ⁴ So we tell the other churches of God how proud we are of you. We tell them how you patiently continue to be strong and have faith, even though you are being persecuted and are suffering many troubles.

Paul Tells About God’s Judgment

⁵ This is proof that God is right in his judgment. He wants you to be worthy of his kingdom. Your suffering is for that kingdom. ⁶ God will do what is right. He will punish those who are causing you trouble. ⁷ And he will bring relief to you who are troubled. He will bring it to you and to us when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven for all to see, together with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will come with burning fire to punish those who don’t know God—those who refuse to accept the Good News about our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with a destruction that never ends. They will not be allowed to be with the Lord but will be kept away from his great power. ¹⁰ This will happen on the day when the Lord Jesus comes to receive honor with his holy people. He will be admired among all who have believed. And this includes you because you believed what we told you.

¹¹ That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to help you live the good way he wanted when he chose you. The goodness you have makes you want to do good. And the faith you have makes you work. We pray that with his power God will help you do these things more and more. ¹² Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of you, and you will be honored because of him. This can happen only by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.