2 Samuel 21:1-3

Contemporary English Version

The Gibeonites Hang Saul's Descendants

21 While David was king, there were three years in a row when the nation of Israel could not grow enough food. So David asked the Lord for help, and the Lord answered, “Saul and his family are guilty of murder, because he had the Gibeonites killed.”

²^(A) The Gibeonites were not Israelites; they were descendants of the Amorites. The people of Israel had promised not to kill them,^[a] but Saul had tried to kill them because he wanted Israel and Judah to control all the land.

David had the Gibeonites come, and he talked with them. ³He said, “What can I do to make up for what Saul did, so that you'll ask the Lord to be kind to his people again?”^[b]

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Footnotes

21.2 promised … them: See Joshua 9.3-27.
21.3 ask … again: Saul's guilt had become a curse on Israel that had resulted in famine. For the effects of this curse to be removed, the Gibeonites would have to ask the Lord to be kind to Israel.