So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gad | גָ֥ד gad | H1410 | Gad · proper noun, a man's name |
| came | וַיָּבֹא vai.ya.vo'- | H935 | to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| David | דָּוִ֖ד da.Vid | H1732 | David · proper noun, a man's name |
| told | וַיַּגֶּד vai.ya.ged- | H5046 | properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| said | וַיֹּ֣אמֶר vai.Yo.mer | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| seven | שֶֽׁבַע She.va' | H7651 | seven (as the sacred full one) · noun, common both genders singular absolute |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Shall seven years of famine come unto thee--that is, in addition to the three that had been already, with the current year included (see on Ch1 21:11).
Shall seven years of famine - In Ch1 21:12, the number is three, not seven; and here the Septuagint has three, the same as in Chronicles: this is no doubt the true reading, the letter ז zain, Seven, being mistaken for ג gimel, Three. A mistake of this kind might be easily made from the similarity of the letters.
So Gad came to David, and told him,.... Said nothing to him about his sin, but correction for it; which confirms it that David was made sensible of his sin before he came to him: and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? in 1 Chronicles 21:12, only "three years" are mentioned, and so the Septuagint version here; but Josephus (d), the Targum, the Syriac and Arabic versions, have the number "seven"; three seems to be more agreeable to the numbers after mentioned, and no more as to come were designed, though seven are here expressed; for the reconciling of which let it be observed, that there had been three years of famine already on account of the sin of Saul,…
Read the whole note in the consoleDavid's heart, i.e., his conscience, smote him, after he had numbered the people, or had given orders for the census to be taken. Having now come to a knowledge of his sin, he prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, because he had acted foolishly. The sin consisted chiefly in the self-exaltation which had led to this step (see the introductory remarks). Sa2 24:11-13 When he rose up in the morning, after he had calmly reflected upon the matter during the night upon his bed, and had been brought to see the folly of his determination, the prophet Gad came to him by the command of God, pointed out to him his fault, and foretold the punishment that would come from God. "Shall seven years of famine co…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
| years |
| שָׁנִ֣ים sha.Nim |
| H8141 |
| a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common masculine plural absolute |
| famine | רָעָ֣ב ra.'Av | H7458 | hunger (more or less extensive) · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| come | הֲתָב֣וֹא ha.ta.Vo' | H935 | to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · interrogative particle + verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular |
| land | בְּאַרְצֶ֡ךָ be.'ar.Tze.kha | H776 | the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| flee | נֻסְךָ֨ nus.Kha | H5127 | to flit · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| three | שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה she.lo.Shah | H7969 | three · noun, common both genders singular absolute |
| months | חֳ֠דָשִׁים Cho.da.shim | H2320 | the new moon · noun, common masculine plural absolute |
| before | לִפְנֵֽי lif.nei- | H6440 | the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct |
| enemies | צָרֶ֜יךָ tza.Rei.kha | H6862 | narrow · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| pursue | רֹדְפֶ֗ךָ ro.de.Fe.kha | H7291 | to run after (usually with hostile intent · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| three | שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת she.Lo.shet | H7969 | three · noun, common both genders singular construct |
| days’ | יָמִ֥ים ya.Mim | H3117 | a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural absolute |
| pestilence | דֶּ֙בֶר֙ de.ver | H1698 | a pestilence · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| land | בְּאַרְצֶ֔ךָ be.'ar.Tze.kha | H776 | the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| advise | דַּ֣ע da' | H3045 | to know (properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular |
| see | וּרְאֵ֔ה u.re.'Eh | H7200 | to see · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular |
| answer | דָּבָֽר da.Var | H1697 | a word · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| return | אָשִׁ֥יב 'a.Shiv | H7725 | to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular |
| sent | שֹׁלְחִ֖י sho.le.Chi | H7971 | to send away · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix |
David had already experienced the first two options—fleeing from Saul and Absalom, and famine because Saul had murdered the Gibeonites (21:1). While three days of severe plague sounded less traumatic, 70,000 people perished (24:15).
I will afflict you with [one of] three [things]. One of three and so [we find], "With two [of my daughters] you will marry [into my family] today",18Shmuel I, 18:21. i.e., with one of two. "I will take three from you" is retribution for the three [curses] you put on Shaul, "Either Adonoy will smite him or his day will come and he will die or he will go down to battle and perish."19Ibid, 26:10.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
