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2 Samuel 21:7

in 2 Samuel 21

Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Jehovah’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

KJV

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.

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This verse in 2 Samuel 21

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
The Lord’s oath - The calamity brought upon Israel by Saul’s breach of the oath to the Gibeonites would make David doubly careful in the matter of his own oath to Jonathan.

This site's exposition

the man who consumed us

on 2 Samuel 21:5-7

They ask for seven of his male descendants, to hang them “before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul”, and the king agrees. Verse 7 spares Mephibosheth son of Jonathan because of the oath between David and Jonathan, so one oath costs seven lives and another saves one.

This site's exposition

the king spared Mephibosheth

Verse 8 names another Mephibosheth, a son of Rizpah, and John Wesley reads son of Jonathan as the mark that keeps the two apart. Albert Barnes adds that the famine caused by Saul's broken oath would make David doubly careful to keep his own, sworn at 1 Samuel 20:15-17.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Spared - For the Gibeonites desiring only such a number, it was at David's choice whom to spare. Of Jonathan - This is added, to distinguish him from the other Mephibosheth, ver. 8.
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,....

The words behind it

20 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּחְמֹ֣לand he had compassion

    vaiyachmolH2550 →41 times

  • הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • מְפִי־Mephi-

    mefi-H4648 →18 times

  • בֹ֖שֶׁת-bosheth

    voshetH4648 →18 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • יְהוֹנָתָ֣ןJonathan

    yehonatanH3083 →81 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • שָׁא֑וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • שְׁבֻעַ֤ת[the] oath of

    shevuatH7621 →

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בֵּֽינֹתָ֔ם[was] between them

    beinotamH996 →407 times

  • בֵּ֣יןbetween

    beinH996 →407 times

  • דָּוִ֔דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • וּבֵ֖יןand between

    uveinH996 →407 times

  • יְהוֹנָתָ֥ןJonathan

    yehonatanH3083 →81 times

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H1121 →4930 times

  • שָׁאֽוּל׃Saul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Proverbs 18:24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.9 works2 Samuel 4:4And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.5 works1 Samuel 20:15and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”5 works1 Samuel 23:18So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.5 works1 Samuel 18:3Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.5 works1 Samuel 20:8Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”4 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
2 Samuel 9:10You and your sons and servants are to work the ground for him and bring in the harvest, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.4 worksJoshua 2:17The men said to her, “We will not be bound by this oath you made us swear4 works1 Samuel 20:17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.3 works1 Samuel 20:42And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.3 works2 Samuel 9:7“Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”2 works2 Samuel 16:4So the king said to Ziba, “All that belongs to Mephibosheth is now yours!” “I humbly bow before you,” said Ziba. “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king!”2 works2 Samuel 19:25And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?”2 worksProverbs 27:10Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.2 worksEcclesiastes 8:2Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.2 worksJoshua 9:18But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders.2 worksLeviticus 5:4Or if someone swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do anything good or evil—in whatever matter a man may rashly pronounce an oath—even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty in the matter.2 worksJoshua 6:22Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised her.”1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 18:3

    Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 20:42

      And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Samuel 20:8–17

      Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me…

  • Through

    1 Samuel 20:8

    Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me…

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 18:3

      Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Samuel 23:18

      So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Samuel 14:32

      “Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 4:4

    And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up…

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 9:3

      So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of Saul’s family to whom I can show the kindness of God?” Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.”

    • 1 Chronicles 9:40

      The son of Jonathan: Merib-baal, who was the father of Micah.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 23:18

    So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 9:1

      Then David asked, “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Samuel

Rizpah’s Kindness toward the Dead — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Rizpah’s Kindness toward the Dead — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
2 Samuel: the study guide →Read 2 Samuel 21 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.

Read on in 2 Samuel 21 →