2 Samuel 21:8-11

21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab ¹  whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them ²  died ³  together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning ⁴  of the barley harvest.

21:10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, ⁵  she did not allow the birds of the air to feed ⁶  on them by day, nor the wild animals ⁷  by night. 21:11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done,

¹ tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.

² tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).

³ tn Heb “fell.”

⁴ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).

⁵ tn Heb “until water was poured on them from the sky.”

⁶ tn Heb “rest.”

⁷ tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”