Bible Strands
2 Samuel 21:14
And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David’s agents bury the remains of Saul and Jonathan in Benjamin after completing the king’s burial command. This act concludes the famine and bloodguilt resolution narrative.
The words — וַ/יִּקְבְּר֣וּ (va/yikburu) means “and they buried,” and עַצְמוֹת (atzmot) means “bones.” These terms denote the physical interment of the dead king and his heir in their ancestral territory.
The thread — The burial site in Zela, Benjamin, is listed in Joshua 18:28, while the sequence of obedience followed by divine response mirrors Joshua 7:26 and 2 Samuel 24:25. Each passage links a commanded action to God’s intervention for the land.
Why it lands — The text states that fulfilling the king’s burial command directly precedes God’s answer for the land. It asks the reader to note the factual sequence of compliance and divine response without adding devotional interpretation.
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 the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.
Cross-references
- Joshua 18:28 Zelah, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
- Joshua 7:26 And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.
- 2 Samuel 24:25 And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers on behalf of the land, and the plague upon Israel was halted.
- Exodus 32:27 He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”
- Numbers 25:13 It will be a covenant of permanent priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
- 1 Samuel 10:2 When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’
- 2 Samuel 3:32 When they buried Abner in Hebron, the king wept aloud at Abner’s tomb, and all the people wept.
- 2 Samuel 4:12 So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.
- 1 Kings 18:40 Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.
- Jeremiah 14:1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: