9. David gave these seven sons to the Gibeonites. Then the Gibeonites killed them and hung them on stakes on a hill in the presence of the Lord. All seven sons died together. They were put to death during the first days of the harvest season at the beginning of barley harvest.
10. Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took the rough cloth that was worn to show sadness and put it on a rock for herself. She stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on her sons’ bodies. During the day she did not let the birds of the sky touch her sons’ bodies, and during the night she did not let the wild animals touch them.
11. People told David what Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, Saul’s slave woman, was doing.
12. Then David took the bones of Saul and Jonathan from the men of Jabesh Gilead. (The Philistines had hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan in the public square of Beth Shan after they had killed Saul at Gilboa. Later the men of Jabesh Gilead had secretly taken them from there.)
13. David brought the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from Gilead. Then the people gathered the bodies of Saul’s seven sons who were hanged on stakes.
14. The people buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan at Zela in Benjamin in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. The people did everything the king commanded.Then God answered the prayers for the land.
15. Again there was war between the Philistines and Israel. David and his men went out to fight the Philistines, but David became tired.
16. Ishbi-Benob, one of the sons of Rapha, had a bronze spearhead weighing about seven and one-half pounds and a new sword. He planned to kill David,
17. but Abishai son of Zeruiah killed the Philistine and saved David’s life.Then David’s men made a promise to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle. If you were killed, Israel would lose its greatest leader.”