2Sa 21:1-9 | NASB1995 | STEP | Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years , year after year ; and David sought the presence of the Lord . And the Lord said , “ It is for Saul and his bloody house , because he put the Gibeonites to death .”

2 Samuel 21:1-9

1 Now there was ^aa famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and ^bDavid sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites, and ^cthe sons of Israel ^{▼▼ Lit had sworn to}made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to ^{▼▼ Lit smite}kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). 3 Thus David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless ^fthe inheritance of the Lord?” 4 Then the Gibeonites said to him, ^g“We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” 5 So they said to the king, ^h“The man who consumed us and who planned ^{▼▼ Lit against us that we should be exterminated}to exterminate us from remaining within any border of Israel, 6 let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will ^{▼▼ Lit expose them}hang them ^kbefore the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, ^lthe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared ^mMephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, ⁿbecause of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8 So the king took the two sons of ^oRizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of ^{▼▼ So Gr and Heb mss
,} ^qMerab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the ^rMeholathite. 9 Then he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they ^{▼▼ Lit exposed them}hanged them in the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at ^tthe beginning of barley harvest.