2 Samuel 21:4-6

New English Translation

⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “We^[a] have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family,^[b] nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked,^[c] “What then are you asking me to do for you?” ⁵They replied to the king, “As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel— ⁶let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute^[d] them before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, who was the Lord’s chosen one.”^[e] The king replied, “I will turn them over.”

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Footnotes

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.
2 Samuel 21:6 tn The exact nature of this execution is not altogether clear. The verb יָקַע (yaqaʿ) basically means “to dislocate” or “alienate.” In Gen 32:26 it is used of the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh. Figuratively it can refer to the removal of an individual from a group (e.g., Jer 6:8; Ezek 23:17) or to a type of punishment the specific identity of which is uncertain (e.g., here and Num 25:4); cf. NAB “dismember them”; NIV “to be killed and exposed.”
2 Samuel 21:6 tc The LXX reads “at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord” (cf. 21:9). The present translation follows the MT, although a number of recent English translations follow the LXX reading here (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

New English Translation (NET)

2 Samuel 21:4-6 New English Translation

Footnotes

2 Samuel 21:4-6

New English Translation