⁴³ Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?”

⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.^(A)

¹⁸ He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge^(A) and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.

¹⁹ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant.^(B)

Obey the King

² Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God.

¹² Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity^(A) of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.

² The king summoned the Gibeonites^(A) and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.)