Discovery Box2 Samuel 21:9-13
Context21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them 1 died 2 together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning 3 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, 4 she did not allow the birds of the air to feed 5 on them by day, nor the wild animals 6 by night. 21:11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done, 21:12 he 7 went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan 8 from the leaders 9 of Jabesh Gilead. (They had secretly taken 10 them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines 11 publicly exposed their corpses 12 after 13 they 14 had killed Saul at Gilboa.) 21:13 David 15 brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed.
[21:9] 1 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew
[21:9] 3 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
[21:10] 4 tn Heb “until water was poured on them from the sky.”
[21:10] 6 tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”
[21:12] 7 tn Heb “David.” For stylistic reasons the name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation.
[21:12] 8 tn Heb “the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son.” See also v. 13.
[21:12] 11 tc Against the MT, this word is better read without the definite article. The MT reading is probably here the result of wrong word division, with the letter ה (he) belonging with the preceding word שָׁם (sham) as the he directive (i.e., שָׁמָּה, samah, “to there”).
[21:12] 12 tn Heb “had hung them.”
[21:12] 13 tn Heb “in the day.”
[21:12] 14 tn Heb “Philistines.”
[21:13] 10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
