2 Samuel Chapter 21
Showing all 22 verses for 2 Samuel Chapter 21.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"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. "
"There was a famine in David's time that lasted three years, one year after another. David sought the LORD about it, and the LORD said, "It is because of Saul and his blood-guilty family, because he killed the Gibeonites.""
I ask you to consider what unresolved wrongs might still be quietly poisoning your life or community, even ones you didn't commit yourself, inherited from those who came before you. Real healing sometimes means honestly confronting old injustice rather than assuming the passage of time alone settles it.
"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 children of Israel and Judah.) "
"So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (The Gibeonites weren't Israelites - they were survivors of the Amorites, and Israel had sworn an oath to protect them. But Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.)"
I ask you to be deeply suspicious of 'zeal' that leads you to break a promise or harm vulnerable people, even when it feels righteous or patriotic in the moment. Passionate conviction is not the same as being right - test your zeal against whether it's honouring commitments and protecting the weak, or trampling them.
"Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD? "
"So David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you? How can I make things right, so that you'll bless the people who belong to the LORD?""
I ask you, when you've wronged someone - or inherited responsibility for a wrong done by people connected to you - to actually ask them what repair looks like, rather than deciding for them what should satisfy them. Real amends starts with genuine listening, not assumptions about what will make it 'fair.'
"And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. "
"The Gibeonites answered, "We don't want silver or gold from Saul or his family, and we don't want you to execute anyone in Israel on our behalf." David asked, "Then what do you want me to do for you?""
I ask you to notice how the Gibeonites refuse to let their grief become blanket hatred towards an entire people - even when they have every earthly right to be furious. When you've been hurt, resist the pull to let anger spread onto everyone connected to the person who wronged you; aim your response only at what actually addresses the wrong.
"And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, "
"They answered the king, "As for the man who destroyed us and plotted to wipe us out completely so we'd have no place left anywhere in Israel...""
I ask you not to shrink from naming the true size of a wrong done to you or to others, even when it's uncomfortable. Minimising harm to keep the peace isn't real peace - honest naming has to come before real healing can begin.
"Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them. "
""...let seven of his male descendants be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD at Gibeah, Saul's own town, the LORD's chosen place." The king said, "I will hand them over.""
I will be honest with you: I do not endorse punishing a person for their ancestor's sin - 'the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,' as the prophets themselves would later insist. This passage shows humanity's ancient, harsh logic of collective punishment, not my will for how you treat one another. Where you see this pattern repeating in your own world - blaming a whole family, a whole people, for what one person did - refuse it, and choose instead to hold only the guilty accountable.
"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. "
"But the king spared Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson, because of the oath the LORD had witnessed between David and Jonathan."
I ask you to notice how David keeps a costly promise made decades earlier, even under pressure to break it. Let your word be that reliable - the kind of commitment that still holds when honouring it is inconvenient, unpopular, or personally risky.
"But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: "
"But the king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she had borne to Saul - Armoni and Mephibosheth (a different man from Jonathan's son) - along with the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul, whom she had raised for Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite."
I ask you to always remember that behind every statistic of suffering are named, particular people with mothers, families, and stories - never let large numbers or old grievances make you forget the individual humanity involved. Grieve the person, not just the event.
"And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. "
"He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who executed them on the hill before the LORD. All seven died together, put to death in the early days of the harvest, at the very start of the barley harvest."
I ask you to notice how carefully the text tracks time here - because grief and injustice aren't resolved in a moment, they're endured over real, long stretches of time. Don't expect people to 'move on' from loss on your schedule; give suffering the actual time it needs to be witnessed and honoured.
"And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. "
"Rizpah, Aiah's daughter, took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, and stayed there from the beginning of the harvest until rain finally fell from the sky on the bodies. She wouldn't let birds of prey land on them by day or wild animals come near by night."
I see Rizpah, and I want you to see her too - a woman with almost no power, doing the one thing she could do: refusing to let her grief and her sons' dignity be erased by neglect. When you cannot stop an injustice, you can still refuse to look away from it, and you can still guard the dignity of those who suffered it. That faithfulness matters to me even when it changes nothing else.
"And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. "
"David was told what Rizpah, Aiah's daughter, Saul's concubine, had done."
I want you to trust that faithful, patient love - even when it seems to change nothing in the moment - has a way of reaching people and moving them, in time. Don't underestimate what your quiet, persistent goodness might eventually accomplish, even when no one seems to be watching.
"And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa: "
"So David went and retrieved the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had secretly taken them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them up after killing Saul at Gilboa."
I ask you to finish the acts of honour and respect that others started but couldn't complete - don't assume someone else's partial effort is the end of the matter if more can still be done. Completing an act of care, even a long time after the original loss, still matters.
"And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged. "
"He brought up the bones of Saul and Jonathan from there, and they also gathered the bones of the men who had been executed."
I ask you to bring completeness to the acts of care and honour you begin - don't leave some of the people affected by a tragedy properly honoured while forgetting others caught up in the same story. Care that's thorough, not selective, is the kind that truly heals.
"And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land. "
"They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the territory of Benjamin, at Zelah, in the tomb of Saul's father Kish. They did everything the king commanded. After that, God responded to prayer for the land."
I ask you to consider that real peace, in a life or a community, often can't be found by simply pushing forward and ignoring old wounds - sometimes healing requires going back and finally dealing honestly with what was left broken. Don't be afraid of the hard work of repair; it's often exactly what opens the way to genuine restoration.
"Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint. "
"The Philistines went to war with Israel again, and David went out to fight them along with his men. But David grew exhausted."
I ask you to accept your own limits honestly, the way this text lets David's weariness simply be stated as fact, without shame. There's no dishonour in growing tired or needing others' help - wisdom is knowing when to let others carry what you no longer can.
"And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. "
"Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giant, whose bronze spear weighed about three and a half kilograms, armed with a new sword, intended to kill David."
I ask you to recognise the moments when you are most vulnerable - often exactly when you're worn out and least able to defend yourself - and to make sure you have people around you who will step in when you can't act alone. Strength isn't only found in what you can do yourself, but in who you allow to stand with you.
"But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. "
"But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to help him, struck the Philistine down, and killed him. Then David's men made him swear an oath: "You will never go out to battle with us again, so that you don't extinguish the lamp of Israel.""
I ask those around a person whose life matters deeply to others - a parent, a leader, someone many depend on - to have the courage to say 'no more' when the risk becomes too great, even if it means overriding that person's own wishes. Protecting someone you love sometimes means telling them the hard truth: it's time to let others carry what you used to carry.
"And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob: then Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. "
"After this, there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was also a descendant of the giant."
I ask you to build - and to be part of - a team where the mission doesn't collapse the moment one person steps back. If everything depends only on you, that's not strength, it's fragility; real strength shares the load and trusts others to carry their part.
"And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. "
"There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, from Bethlehem, killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was as thick as a weaver's beam."
I ask you to give proper credit and honour to the people who achieve great things quietly, alongside or instead of the famous name a story usually remembers. Don't let fame monopolise the honour that many faithful, courageous people actually earned together.
"And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant. "
"There was yet another battle, this time at Gath. A huge man was there, with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot - twenty-four in total - and he too was descended from the giant."
I ask you to expect that some struggles in life won't be defeated once and stay defeated - they may return in a new form, and someone new will need to step up each time. Don't be discouraged if a battle you thought was finished reappears; be ready, and trust that you don't have to fight it alone.
"And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah the brother of David slew him. "
"When he taunted and defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of David's brother Shimeah, killed him."
I ask you to remember that the courage you model for the people close to you - your family, your friends, those who look up to you - has a way of shaping what they become capable of. Live bravely and faithfully, because someone is watching and may need exactly that example one day.
"These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants. "
"These four were descendants of the giant of Gath, and they were all defeated by David and by his men."
I ask you to end your own story the way this chapter ends - giving genuine credit to everyone who stood with you, rather than claiming the victory as yours alone. Real greatness shares the honour; it doesn't hoard it.