2Sa 21:1-10 | ESV | STEP | Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years , year after year . And David sought the face of the Lord . And the Lord said , There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house , because he put the Gibeonites to death .

2 Samuel 21:1-10

David Avenges the Gibeonites

1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David ^asought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his 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 people of Israel but ^bof the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless ^cthe heritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at ^dGibeah of Saul, ^ethe chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of ^fthe oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of ^gRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab ^{▼▼Two Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts Michal} the daughter of Saul, whom ⁱshe bore to ^jAdriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, ^kat the beginning of barley harvest.

10 ^lThen Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.