Good News Bible

2 Samuel 21:5-11 Good News Bible (GNB)

5. They answered, “Saul wanted to destroy us and leave none of us alive anywhere in Israel.

6. So hand over seven of his male descendants, and we will hang them before the Lord at Gibeah, the town of Saul, the Lord's chosen king.”“I will hand them over,” the king answered.

7. But because of the sacred promise that he and Jonathan had made to each other, David spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul.

8. However, he took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons that Rizpah the daughter of Aiah had borne to Saul; he also took the five sons of Saul's daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai, who was from Meholah.

9. David handed them over to the people of Gibeon, who hanged them on the mountain before the Lord — and all seven of them died together. It was late in the spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest, when they were put to death.

10. Then Saul's concubine Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, used sackcloth to make a shelter for herself on the rock where the corpses were, and she stayed there from the beginning of harvest until the autumn rains came. During the day she would keep the birds away from the corpses, and at night she would protect them from wild animals.

11. When David heard what Rizpah had done,