Bible Strands
2 Samuel 21:6
let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Gibeonites demand seven of Saul’s male descendants from King David to be executed in retribution for Saul’s past attempt to exterminate them from Israel. David agrees to hand them over, though he later spares Mephibosheth due to a prior oath.
The words — The phrase יֻתַּן (ye.na.ton-) translates literally as “let it be given,” expressing the Gibeonites’ demand for the descendants. The verb וְ/הוֹקַעֲנוּ/ם (ve./ho.ka.'a.Nu/m) means “and we will impale them,” specifying the method of execution.
The thread — The command to execute before the LORD at Gibeah parallels the public execution order in Numbers 25:4, while the location recalls Saul’s divine selection in 1 Samuel 10:24 and his return to Gibeah in 1 Samuel 10:26.
Why it lands — The text states that the king will surrender seven descendants to be impaled at the city associated with Saul’s anointing. It requires a reader to observe how political agreements, geographic memory, and the settlement of blood guilt intersect without moral evasion.
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
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 10:24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
- Numbers 25:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
- 1 Samuel 10:26 Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, and the men of valor whose hearts God had touched went with him.
- 1 Samuel 11:4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and relayed these words in the hearing of the people, they all wept aloud.
- Genesis 40:19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”
- Genesis 40:22 But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.
- Deuteronomy 21:22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
- Joshua 8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
- Joshua 10:26 After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.
- 1 Samuel 9:16 “At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him ruler over My people Israel; he will save them from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”