1 Then there was a ra'av (famine) in the days of Dovid shalosh shanim, shanah after shanah; and Dovid inquired of Hashem. And Hashem answered, It is on account of Sha'ul, and for his bais hadamim, because he slaughtered the Giveonim.
2 And HaMelech called the Giveonim, and said unto them; (now the Giveonim were not of the Bnei Yisroel, but of the remnant of the Emori; and the Bnei Yisroel had sworn unto them; and Sha'ul sought to annihilate them in his kinot (zeal) for the Bnei Yisroel and Yehudah.)
3 Therefore Dovid said unto the Giveonim, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the kapporah, that ye may bless the nachalat Hashem?
4 And the Giveonim said unto him, We will have no kesef nor zahav of Sha'ul, nor of his bais; neither for us shalt thou kill any ish in Yisroel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.
5 And they answered HaMelech, The ish that consumed us, and that plotted against us that we should be made shmad from remaining in any of the territories of Yisroel,
6 Let shivah anashim of his banim be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto Hashem in Giveah of Sha'ul, whom Hashem did choose. And HaMelech said, I will give them.
7 But HaMelech spared Mephivoshet Ben Yonatan Ben Sha'ul, because of Hashem's shevua (oath) that was between them, between Dovid and Yonatan Ben Sha'ul.