Three years of famine, a covenant broken by Saul, and a mother who would not leave her sons. Second Samuel 21 is one of the most arresting chapters in the historical books - the story of David righting a blood-guilt he inherited, Gibeonite justice, and Rizpah’s extraordinary vigil that moved David to finally honor even
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Lyrics
There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year And David sought the face of the LORD The LORD said, It is for Saul and for his bloody house because he put the Gibeonites to death
The king called the Gibeonites and said to them Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites And the children of Israel had sworn to them and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal For the children of Israel and Judah
And David said to the Gibeonites, What should I do for you And with what should I make atonement that you may bless the LORD’s inheritance The Gibeonites said to him, It is no 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
He said, I will do for you whatever you say They said to the king, The man who consumed us and who plotted against us That we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel Let seven men of his sons be delivered to us and we will hang them up to the LORD in Gibeah of Saul
The chosen of the LORD The king said, I will give them But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul Because of the LORD’s oath that was between them between David and Jonathan the son of Saul
But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah Whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth And the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul Whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite
He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites And they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD And all seven of them fell together They were put to death in the days of harvest in the first days at the beginning of barley harvest
Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock From the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the sky She allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day Nor the animals of the field by night
David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah the concubine of Saul had done So 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 street of Beth Shan Where the Philistines had hanged them in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa
And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son They also gathered the bones of those who were hanged They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela In the tomb of Kish his father and they performed all that the king commanded
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2 Samuel 21 sung by Psalm Selah. The whole Bible, one chapter at a time.
Published 2026-05-22 · Last updated 2026-06-06
Written by Reid Wender, Editorial Director at Psalmody Press