2 Samuel 8:2
8:2 He defeated the Moabites. He made them lie on the ground and then used a rope to measure them off. He put two-thirds of them to death and spared the other third. 1 The Moabites became David’s subjects and brought tribute. 2
2 Samuel 21:2
21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to 3 them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)
2 Samuel 21:9
21:9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the Lord. The seven of them 4 died 5 together; they were put to death during harvest time – during the first days of the beginning 6 of the barley harvest.
1 tn Heb “and he measured [with] two [lengths] of rope to put to death and [with] the fullness of the rope to keep alive.”
2 tn Heb “and the Moabites were servants of David, carriers of tribute.”
3 tn Heb “swore an oath to.”
4 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (shÿva’tam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shiva’tim, “seventy”).
5 tn Heb “fell.”
6 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading בִּתְחִלַּת (bithkhillat, “in the beginning”) rather than MT תְחִלַּת (tÿkhillat, “beginning of”).