2 Samuel 21:3

3 therefore David said unto the Gibeonites: "What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

2 Samuel 21:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 21:3

Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, what shall I do for
you
By way of satisfaction for the injuries done them:

and wherewith shall I make the atonement;
for the offences committed, that so the wrath that was gone forth against the land in a famine might be appeased:

that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
pray for a blessing upon the land which the Lord had chosen for his inheritance, and given as such to the people of Israel, that rain might descend upon it, and make it fruitful.

2 Samuel 21:3 In-Context

1 Then there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, "It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites."

2 And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them, but Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah)"

3 therefore David said unto the Gibeonites: "What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"

4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, "We will have no silver nor gold of Saul nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel." And he said, "What ye shall say, that will I do for you."

5 And they answered the king, "The man who consumed us and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel,