Add parallel Print Page Options

The Gibeonites punish Saul's descendants

21 While David was king, there was a famine in Israel for three years. So David asked the Lord what had caused this trouble. The Lord said, ‘Saul's family is guilty of murder, because Saul killed many of the Gibeonites.’

The Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel. They were the only Amorite people who still lived. The Israelites had promised not to kill them.[a] But Saul thought that he should kill them. He thought that this would help Israel and Judah to rule their land.

Now King David told the Gibeonites to come to speak with him. He asked them, ‘What can I do to help you? How can I make things right between us? I want you to bring the Lord's blessing to his people again.’

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 21:2 See Joshua 9:3-27.