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2 Samuel 21:1-14 — The Gibeonites Avenged

2Sam.21.1-14

¹Now there was a famine in the days of David for three consecutive years, and David sought the face of Yahweh. And Yahweh said, “It is on account of Saul and his bloodguilty house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for Israel and Judah.) ³David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement, so that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?” ⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “For us it is not a matter of silver or gold with Saul or with his house, and it is not for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” ⁵They said to the king, “The man who wiped us out and planned against us, to destroy us from having any place within all the territory of Israel—” ⁶“let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before Yahweh at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh.” The king said, “I will give them.” ⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, because of the oath of Yahweh that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul. ⁸But the king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ⁹He gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before Yahweh. Thus all seven of them fell together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest. ¹⁰Then Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest until heavy rain poured down on them from the heavens. She did not allow the birds of the sky to settle on them by day or the wild animals of the field by night. ¹¹It was told to David what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul's concubine, had done. ¹²Then David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines struck down Saul on Gilboa. ¹³He brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. ¹⁴They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the land of Benjamin at Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father, and they did all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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