2 Samuel 21:1

And hunger was made in the land of Israel in the days of David, by three years continually. And David counselled the answer of the Lord, that is, asked counsel of the Lord in the answering place; and the Lord said, It is for Saul, and for his house, and for [the] blood, for he killed the men of Gibeon. (And in the days of David, there was hunger in the land of Israel, for three years without ceasing. And David counselled with the Lord; and the Lord said, It is because Saul, and his family, were guilty of the blood, or of murder, for he killed the Gibeonites.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

2Therefore when [the] Gibeonites were called, the king said to them; soothly Gibeonites be not of the sons of Israel, but they be the relics of Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, that they should not slay them, and Saul would smite them for (his) fervent love, as for the sons of Israel and of Judah; (And so when the Gibeonites were called, the king said to them; now the Gibeonites be not Israelites, but they be the remnants of the Amorites; and the Israelites had sworn to them, that they would not kill them, but Saul did strike many of them down in his fervent love for the people of Israel and of Judah;)

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Cross References

Genesis 26:1Forsooth for hunger rose on the land, after that barrenness that befelled in the days of Abraham, Isaac went forth to Abimelech, king of Palestines, in Gerar. (And another famine arose in the land, like the one which had come in Abraham’s days, and Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, in Gerar.)

Genesis 43:1In the meantime hunger oppressed greatly all the land, (In the meantime the famine greatly oppressed all the land,)

Leviticus 26:26after that I have broken the staff of your bread, so that ten women shall bake their loaves in one oven, and (they shall) yield, or deliver, those loaves at weight; and ye shall eat (them), and (yet) ye shall not be fulfilled.

Joshua 7:1Forsooth the sons of Israel brake the commandment, and mis-took of the cursed thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, [the] son of Zerah, of the lineage of Judah, took something of the cursed thing; and the Lord was wroth against the sons of Israel. (But one of the Israelites disobeyed the Lord’s command, and took some of the cursed things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the cursed things; and so the Lord was angry with the Israelites.)

Joshua 9:20but we shall do this thing to them; be they kept that they live, lest the ire of the Lord be stirred against us, if we forswear us to them; (but we shall do this to them; let them be kept alive, lest the Lord’s anger be stirred up against us, if we break our oath to them;)

1 Samuel 10:22And after these things they counselled with the Lord, whether Saul should come thither. And the Lord answered, Lo! he is hid among (the) vessels.

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 21:1

The date of the events of this chapter is uncertain. I incline to think that they happened as they are here placed, after Absalom's and Sheba's rebellion, and towards the latter end of David's reign. That the battles with the Philistines, mentioned here, were long after the Philistines were subdued, appears by comparing 1 Chron. xviii. 1 with xx. 4 . The numbering of the people was just before the fixing of the place of the temple (as appears 1 Chron. xxii. 1 ), and that was towards the close of David's life; and,… Read the whole commentary →

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