2 Samuel 21:7

2 Samuel 21:7 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
• New King James Version (NKJV)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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)The king spared Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was Saul’s grandson, because of the oath David and Jonathan had sworn before the Lord.

Context of 2 Samuel 21:7

5They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, 6let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen one.” So the king said, “I will give them to you.” The king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8But the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah, whom she had borne to Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the Lord. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.

2 Samuel 21:7 word by word

וַיַּחְמֹ֣ל הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ עַל־מְפִי־בֹ֖שֶׁת בֶּן־יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בֶּן־שָׁא֑וּל עַל־שְׁבֻעַ֤ת יְהוָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בֵּֽינֹתָ֔ם בֵּ֣ין דָּוִ֔ד וּבֵ֖ין יְהוֹנָתָ֥ן בֶּן־שָׁאֽוּל׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• But the kingמֶ֫לֶךְmelek · kingH4428
• sparedחָמַלchâmal · to spareH2550
• Mephiboshethמְפִיבֹשֶׁתmephîybôsheth mephibôsheth · MephiboshethH4648
• the sonבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
• of Jonathanיְהוֹנָתָןyehônâthân · JonathanH3083
• of Saulשָׁאוּלshâ'ûl · SaulH7586
• because of the Lord’sיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• oathשְׁבוּעָהshebû‛âh · oathH7621
• between them, between Davidדָּוִדdâvid dâvîyd · DavidH1732

Cross-references for 2 Samuel 21:7

• 2 Samuel 4:4(Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)
• 2 Samuel 9:10You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
• 2 Samuel 16:4Then the king said to Ziba, “All that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” “I humbly bow,” Ziba said. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.”
• 2 Samuel 19:25When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king asked him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”
• 1 Samuel 18:3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
• 1 Samuel 20:8As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
• 1 Samuel 23:18The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

Commentaries on 2 Samuel 21:7

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7The Lord‘s oath - The calamity brought upon Israel by Saul‘s breach of the oath to the Gibeonites would make David doubly careful in the matter of his own oath to Jonathan.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7the oath: See 1 Samuel 20:14–15. Unlike Saul, David kept his promise even as he faced the dangerous consequences of Saul breaking an oath.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-92Sa 21:1-9. The Three Years' Famine for the Gibeonites Cease by Hanging Seven of Saul's Sons. 1. the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites--The sacred history has not recorded either the time or the reason of this massacre. Some think that they were sufferers in the atrocity perpetrated by Saul at Nob (1Sa 22:19), where many of them may have resided as attendants of the priests; while others suppose it…Read the comment

Topics related to 2 Samuel 21:7

• Covenant
• David
• Gibeon
• Mephibosheth
• Oath
• Saul

In the dictionaries

• David
• Jonathan
• Saul
• Paul, Saul
• Gibeah
• Giants
• Heredity
• Mephibosheth
• Psalms, Book of
• Rizpah

Commentaries on 2 Samuel 21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary