2 Samuel 21:1-9

1Now there was 1a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and 2David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and 3the sons of Israel had 4made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to 5kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah). 3David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And how can I make amends, so that you will bless 6the inheritance of the Lord?” 4Then the Gibeonites said to him, “7For us it is not a matter of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put anyone to death in Israel.” Nevertheless David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” 5So they said to the king, “8The man who destroyed us and who planned 9to eliminate us so that we would not exist within any border of Israel-- 6let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will 10hang them 11before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, 12the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

7But the king spared 13Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, 14because of the oath of the Lord which was between them, between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. 8So the king took the two sons of 15Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, Armoni and Mephibosheth whom she had borne to Saul, and the five sons of 1617Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the 18Meholathite. 9Then he handed them over to the Gibeonites, and they 19hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, so that the seven of them fell together; and they were put to death in the first days of harvest at 20the beginning of barley harvest.