2 Samuel 21:12

he went with some of his servants to Jabesh in the Gilead region and got the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan. The people of Jabesh had stolen their bones from the ◄plaza/public square► in Beth-Shan city, where the men from Philistia had hanged them previously, on the day that they had killed Saul and Jonathan on Gilboa Mountain.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

In Context

11When someone told David what Rizpah had done,

13David and his men took the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and they also took the bones of the seven men from Gibeon whom the men from Philistia had hanged.

Read all of 2 Samuel 21

Cross References

1 Samuel 28:4The army of Philistia gathered and set up their tents at Shunem city, in the north of Israel. Saul gathered the Israeli army and set up their tents at Gilboa in the eastern part of the same valley.

1 Samuel 31:10They put Saul’s weapons in the temple of their goddess Astarte. They also fastened the bodies of Saul and his sons to the wall that surrounded Beth-Shan city.

2 Samuel 1:6The young man replied, “It happened that I was on Gilboa Mountain where the battle occurred, and I saw Saul, leaning on his spear. The enemy chariots and their drivers had come very close to Saul.

2 Samuel 2:4Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and one of them poured olive oil on David’s head to show they were appointing him to be [MTY] the king of the tribe [MTY] of Judah. When David found out that the people of Jabesh town in the Gilead region had buried Saul’s body,

1 Chronicles 10:1The army of Philistia again fought against the Israelis. The Israeli soldiers ran away from them, and many Israelis were killed {the soldiers of Philistia killed many Israelis} on Gilboa Mountain.

1 Chronicles 10:12So the bravest men/soldiers of Jabesh went and got the corpses of Saul and his sons and brought them back to Jabesh. They buried their bones under a large tree in Jabesh. Then the people of Jabesh ◄fasted/abstained from eating food► for seven days.

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 21:11-15

The Death of Saul's Sons. ( b. c. 1021.) 10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, which had… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 2 Samuel 21:12