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2 Samuel 21:2-4
New English Translation
2 Samuel 21:2-4
New English Translation
2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to[a] them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.) 3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What can I do for you, and how can I make amends so that you will bless[b] the Lord’s inheritance?”
4 The Gibeonites said to him, “We[c] have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family,[d] nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked,[e] “What then are you asking me to do for you?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Samuel 21:2 tn Heb “swore an oath to.”
- 2 Samuel 21:3 tn After the preceding imperfect verbal form, the subordinated imperative indicates purpose/result. S. R. Driver comments, “…the imper. is used instead of the more normal voluntative, for the purpose of expressing with somewhat greater force the intention of the previous verb” (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 350).
- 2 Samuel 21:4 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לָנוּ (lanu, “to us”) rather than the MT לִי (li, “to me”). But for a contrary opinion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 53, 350.
- 2 Samuel 21:4 tn Heb “house.”
- 2 Samuel 21:4 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
New English Translation (NET)
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