2 Samuel 21:4

4 And the Gibeonites said to him, As to Saul and his house, it is with us no question of receiving silver or gold, neither is it for us to have any man put to death in Israel. And he said, What ye say will I do 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 And the king called the Gibeonites, and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remainder of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn to them; and Saul sought to smite them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.)

3 And David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and with what shall I make atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of Jehovah?

4 And the Gibeonites said to him, As to Saul and his house, it is with us no question of receiving silver or gold, neither is it for us to have any man put to death in Israel. And he said, What ye say will I do for you.

5 And they said to the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in all the borders of Israel,

6 let seven men of his sons be given up to us, and we will hang them up to Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah. And the king said, I will give [them].