2 Samuel 21:5

And they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us to exterminate us from existing within any border of Israel,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Gibeonites address King David during the famine crisis, identifying the specific ancestor responsible for their oppression. They speak to the monarch at the moment he offers to fulfill their justice demand.

The words — כִּלָּ֔/נוּ (ki.La./nu) translates literally to "he made an end of us," while דִּמָּה\־ (di.mah-) means "he planned." These terms frame the grievance as both a completed destruction and a deliberate scheme.

The thread — The theme of plotted extermination recurs in Esther 9:24 regarding Haman’s scheme against the Jews. Daniel 9:26 applies similar language of being "cut off" to the Messiah, while 2 Samuel 21:1 establishes the famine that prompts this dialogue.

Why it lands — The text demands that broken covenant violations be addressed through concrete accountability rather than financial compensation. It requires the reader to recognize that historical injustice must be formally resolved to restore communal order.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙va/i.yo.me.Ruand/ they said אֶל־'el-to הַמֶּ֔לֶךְha./Me.lekhthe/ king הָאִישׁ֙ha./'Ishthe/ man אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwho כִּלָּ֔נוּki.La./nuhe made an end of/ us וַאֲשֶׁ֖רva./'a.Sherand/ who דִּמָּה־di.mah-he plannedלָ֑נוּLa./nuto <the>/ usנִשְׁמַ֕דְנוּnish.Mad.nuwe were destroyed מֵֽהִתְיַצֵּ֖בme./hit.ya.Tzevfrom/ standing בְּכָל־be./kholin/ all גְּבֻ֥לge.Vul[the] territory of יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Yis.ra.'ElIsrael

King James Version

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,

Cross-references

2 Samuel 21:1 During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
Esther 9:24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.
Daniel 9:26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
Matthew 7:2 For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.