2 Samuel 21:7

The king did not hand over to them Saul’s grandson Mephibosheth, because of what he and Mephibosheth’s father Jonathan had solemnly promised to each other.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

In Context

6Hand over to us seven of Saul’s descendants. We will hang them where Yahweh is worshiped in Gibeon, our town, the town where Saul, whom Yahweh previously chose to be king, lived.” The king replied, “Okay, I will hand them over to you.”

8Instead, he took Armoni and another man named Mephibosheth, the two sons that Saul’s slave wife Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, had given birth to, and the five sons that Saul’s daughter Merab had given birth to. Merab’s husband was Adriel, the son of a man named Barzillai from Meholah town.

Read all of 2 Samuel 21

Cross References

1 Samuel 18:3Because Jonathan loved David so much, he made a solemn agreement with David. They promised each other that they would always be loyal friends.

1 Samuel 20:15But if I die, never stop being kind to my family, even after Yahweh has gotten rid of all your enemies all over the earth.”

1 Samuel 20:42Jonathan said to David, “May things go well for you as you go. Yahweh has heard what we solemnly promised to always do for each other, and what we said that our descendants must do for each other.” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

1 Samuel 24:22David solemnly promised Saul that he would not harm Saul’s family. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went back up into the place where they had been hiding.

2 Samuel 9:1One day David asked, “Is there anyone who is a descendant of Saul to whom I can be kind?” He asked this because he wanted to honor Jonathan.

2 Samuel 9:7David said to him, “Do not be afraid; I will be kind to you because Jonathan your father was my loyal friend. I will give back to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul. And I want you to always eat with me at my house [MTY].”

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 21:2-10

A Famine in Israel; The Gibeonites Avenged. ( b. c. 1021.) 1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord . And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for 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: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the… Read the whole commentary →

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Study 2 Samuel 21:7