Discovery Box2 Samuel 21:1 
Context21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. 1 The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, 2 because he murdered the Gibeonites.”
2 Samuel 21:8-9
Context21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab 3 whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them 4 died 5 together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning 6 of the barley harvest.
1 tn Heb “sought the face of the
2 tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”
3 tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.
4 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew
5 tn Heb “fell.”
6 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
