2 Samuel 21:4

4 The Gibeonites said to him, "We don't want any silver or gold from Saul or his family, and it isn't our right to have anyone in Israel killed." "What do you want?" David asked. "I'll do it for you."

2 Samuel 21:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 21:4

And, the Gibeonites said unto him
In reply to his motion:

we will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house;
this shall not be the ransom or atonement; it was not silver and gold Saul took from them, but the lives of their brethren, and therefore they insist upon life for life:

neither for us shall thou kill any man in Israel;
who were not of the house of Saul; they did not desire any man should die, but who were of that family by whom they had suffered:

and he said, what you shall say, [that] will I do for you;
whether by inflicting pecuniary fines, or punishing with death, which latter seems to be what they suggested, and afterwards insisted on; whatever, according to law and justice, was required, he was ready to do it for them.

2 Samuel 21:4 In-Context

2 So the king called for the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites weren't Israelites but were survivors of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn a solemn pledge to spare them, but Saul tried to eliminate them in his enthusiasm for the people of Israel and Judah.)

3 David said to the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you? How can I fix matters so you can benefit from the LORD's inheritance?"

4 The Gibeonites said to him, "We don't want any silver or gold from Saul or his family, and it isn't our right to have anyone in Israel killed." "What do you want?" David asked. "I'll do it for you."

5 "Okay then," they said to the king. "That man who opposed and oppressed us, who planned to destroy us, keeping us from having a place to live anywhere in Israel—

6 hand over seven of his sons to us, and we will hang them before the LORD at Gibeon on the LORD's mountain." "I will hand them over," the king said.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXXL, OL; MT What are you saying?