2 Samuel 21:2-3

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 ¹  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 ²  the Lord’s inheritance?”

2 Samuel 21:1

The Gibeonites Demand Revenge

21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. ³  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ⁴  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

2 Samuel 21:4

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?”

2 Samuel 21:9

21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them ⁸  died ⁹  together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning ¹⁰  of the barley harvest.

[21:2]  ¹ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[21:3]  ² 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).

[21:1]  ³ tn Heb “sought the face of the Lord.”

[21:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”

[21:4]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:9]  ⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).

[21:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “fell.”

[21:9]  ⁷ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).