2 Samuel 21:1-6

1 And there is a famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David seeketh the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah saith, `For Saul and for the bloody house, because that he put to death the Gibeonites.'

2 And the king calleth for the Gibeonites, and saith unto them -- as to the Gibeonites, they [are] not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul seeketh to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah --

3 yea, David saith unto the Gibeonites, `What do I do for you? and with what do I make atonement? and bless ye the inheritance of Jehovah.'

4 And the Gibeonites say to him, `We have no silver and gold by Saul and by his house, and we have no man to put to death in Israel;' and he saith, `What ye are saying I do to you.'

5 And they say unto the king, `The man who consumed us, and who devised against us -- we have been destroyed from stationing ourselves in all the border of Israel --

6 let there be given to us seven men of his sons, and we have hanged them before Jehovah, in the height of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah.' And the king saith, `I do give;'

2 Samuel 21:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 21

A famine being in the land three years, the Lord was inquired of, to know the reason of it; and it being answered, that it was on account of Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites, they were summoned by David to know what satisfaction they required for the cruel usage of them, 2Sa 21:1-3; to which they replied, that they only desired seven of Saul's sons to be delivered up to them, to be hanged by them, which was granted, 2Sa 21:4-9; whose bones, with those of Saul and Jonathan, David buried in the sepulchre of their fathers, 2Sa 21:10-14; and the chapter is closed with an account of the various battles fought with the Philistines, in which four of their generals were slain, 2Sa 21:15-22.