4 The Gibeonites said to David, “We cannot demand silver or gold from Saul or his family. And we don’t have the right to kill anyone in Israel.”Then David asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
5 The Gibeonites said, “Saul made plans against us and tried to destroy all our people who are left in the land of Israel.
6 So bring seven of his sons to us. Then we will kill them and hang them on stakes in the presence of the Lord at Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord’s chosen king.”The king said, “I will give them to you.”
7 But the king protected Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the promise he had made to Jonathan in the Lord’s name.
8 The king did take Armoni and Mephibosheth, sons of Rizpah and Saul. (Rizpah was the daughter of Aiah.) And the king took the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab. (Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite was the father of Merab’s five sons.)
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.