Bible Strands
2 Samuel 21:13
So David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought from there, and they also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records David’s directive to collect the remains of Saul and Jonathan from Jabesh-gilead, immediately following his retrieval mission described in 2 Samuel 21:12. This command occurs as the narrative concludes the recovery of the executed royal family’s bodies before their final interment.
The words — The verb וַיַּעַל (va.ya.al) literally means “he brought up,” indicating the physical transport of the remains from Beth-shan. The noun עַצְמוֹת (atz.mot) denotes “bones,” specifying that only the skeletal remains were gathered rather than the full corpses.
The thread — The retrieval of these bones is initiated in 2 Samuel 21:12 and completed in 2 Samuel 21:14 with their burial in Kish’s tomb. The motif of gathering bones for proper burial recurs in 1 Kings 13:30 and 2 Kings 23:16 when royal reforms restore burial rites.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that David’s command restores honor to a fallen house without endorsing Saul’s earlier violence. The narrative treats the physical handling of remains as a concrete act of covenantal justice rather than a symbolic gesture.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.