2 Samuel 21:1-6

The Gibeonites Demand Revenge

21:1 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.”

21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ³  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.) 21:3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you, and how can I make amends so that you will bless ⁴  the Lord’s inheritance?”

21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We ⁵  have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, ⁶  nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked, ⁷  “What then are you asking me to do for you?” 21:5 They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel – 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute ⁸  them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁹  The king replied, “I will turn them over.”

2 Samuel 21:2

21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ¹⁰  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

2 Samuel 1:13

1:13 David said to the young man who told this to him, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am an Amalekite, the son of a resident foreigner.” ¹¹ 

Proverbs 20:25

20:25 It is a snare ¹²  for a person ¹³  to rashly cry, ¹⁴  “Holy!”

and only afterward to consider ¹⁵  what he has vowed. ¹⁶ 

Ezekiel 17:12-21

17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ¹⁷  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ ¹⁸  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem ¹⁹  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon. 17:13 He took one from the royal family, ²⁰  made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. ²¹  He then took the leaders of the land 17:14 so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family ²²  rebelled against the king of Babylon ²³  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ²⁴  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ²⁵  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note ²⁶  – he gave his promise ²⁷  and did all these things – he will not escape!

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ²⁸  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me. 17:21 All the choice men ²⁹  among his troops will die ³⁰  by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

Zechariah 5:3-4

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ³¹  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ³²  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 5:4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ³³  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ³⁴  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ³⁵  who refuse to help ³⁶  the immigrant ³⁷  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Romans 1:31

1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ³⁸  heartless, ruthless.

Romans 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ³⁹  a slave ⁴⁰  of Christ Jesus, ⁴¹  called to be an apostle, ⁴²  set apart for the gospel of God. ⁴³ 

Romans 1:10

1:10 and I always ask ⁴⁴  in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. ⁴⁵ 

[21:1]  ¹ tn Heb “sought the face of the Lord.”

[21:1]  ² tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”

[21:2]  ³ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[21:3]  ⁴ tn After the preceding imperfect verbal form, the subordinated imperative indicates purpose/result. S. R. Driver comments, “…the imper. is used instead of the more normal voluntative, for the purpose of expressing with somewhat greater force the intention of the previous verb” (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 350).

[21:4]  ⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[21:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:6]  ⁸ tn The exact nature of this execution is not altogether clear. The verb יָקַע (yaqa’) basically means “to dislocate” or “alienate.” In Gen 32:26 it is used of the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh. Figuratively it can refer to the removal of an individual from a group (e.g., Jer 6:8; Ezek 23:17) or to a type of punishment the specific identity of which is uncertain (e.g., here and Num 25:4); cf. NAB “dismember them”; NIV “to be killed and exposed.”

[21:6]  ⁹ tc The LXX reads “at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord” (cf. 21:9). The present translation follows the MT, although a number of recent English translations follow the LXX reading here (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[21:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word used here refers to a foreigner whose social standing was something less than that of native residents of the land, but something more than that of a nonresident alien who was merely passing through.

[20:25]  ¹² sn It would be a “snare” because it would lead people into financial difficulties; Leviticus 27 talks about foolish or rash vows.

[20:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “a man.”

[20:25]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is from לוּע (lu’) or לָעַע (la’a’); it means “to talk wildly” (not to be confused with the homonym “to swallow”). It occurs here and in Job 6:3.

[20:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “reflect on.” The person is to consider the vows before making them, to ensure that they can be fulfilled. Too many people make their vow or promise without thinking, and then later worry about how they will fulfill their vows.

[20:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the vows” (so NASB); CEV “promises.”

[17:12]  ¹⁷ tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

[17:12]  ¹⁸ sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

[17:12]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).

[17:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”

[17:15]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ²³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “place.”

[17:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[17:18]  ²⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.

[17:18]  ²⁷ sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).

[17:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “place it on his head.”

[17:21]  ²⁹ tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhyv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharyv).

[17:21]  ³⁰ tn Heb “fall.”

[5:3]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

[5:3]  ³² sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.

[3:5]  ³³ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ³⁷ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

[1:31]  ³⁸ tn Or “promise-breakers.”

[1:1]  ³⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Traditionally, “servant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁴¹ tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ⁴² tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ⁴³ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.

[1:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “remember you, always asking.”

[1:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “succeed in coming to you in the will of God.”