Study Desk

Now there stood by him one of Joab's young men, and said, "Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab."

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the presence of the LORD. And the LORD said, "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death."

So 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 the sons of Israel made a covenant with them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).

Thus David said to the Gibeonites, "What should I do for you? And how can I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

Then the Gibeonites said to him, "We have no concern of silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel." And he said, "I will do for you whatever you say."

And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until it rained on them from the sky; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night.

They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the grave of Kish his father; thus they did all that the king commanded, and after that God was moved by prayer for the land.

"For the waves of death encompassed me; The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me;

"In my distress I called upon the LORD, Yes, I cried to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears.

"He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

"For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not acted wickedly against my God.

"For all His ordinances were before me, And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.

"For You are my lamp, O LORD; And the LORD illumines my darkness.

"For by You I can run upon a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.

"As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

"For who is God, besides the LORD? And who is a rock, besides our God?

"He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

"For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

The God who executes vengeance for me, And brings down peoples under me,

"Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow?