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1 Chronicles 21
Lexham English Bible

The Census of David

21 Then Satan[a] stood against Israel and urged David to count Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and to the commanders of the nation, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring a report to me that I might know their number.” 3 But Joab said, “May Yahweh add to the people a hundred times what they are! Are they not, O my lord the king, all of them the king’s servants? Why does my lord seek this? Why would he bring guilt to Israel?” 4 But the word of the king prevailed over Joab. Then he went about through all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave the number of the enrollment of the people to David. And it happened that all Israel was one million one hundred thousand men drawing a sword, and in Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men drawing a sword. 6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the word of the king was repulsive to Joab.

7 But this word was displeasing in the eyes of God, and he struck Israel. 8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned severely in that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish.” 9 Then Yahweh spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying, 10 “Go, you must speak to David, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Three choices I offer to you. Choose one of them for yourself that I will do to you.”’” 11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Choose for yourself: 12 whether three years of famine or three months of devastation by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of Yahweh, with disease in the land and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the territory in Israel.’ So now, see what word I should return to my sender.” 13 Then David said to Gad, “I am very troubled.[b] Let me into the hand of Yahweh, for his compassion is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of a man.”

14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence through Israel, and seventy thousand men from Israel fell. 15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and was grieved on account of the calamity. Then he said to the angel, the destroyer, “It is enough; slacken your hand.” And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 17 Then David said to God, “Was it not I who gave a command to count the people? Now I am he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, let there be no plague.”

David Builds an Altar

18 Now the angel of Yahweh had spoken to Gad to say to David that David should go up and erect an altar for Yahweh. 19 So David went up at the word of Gad that he had spoken in the name of Yahweh. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and Ornan turned and saw the angel, and his four sons with him hid themselves. 21 Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and they bowed down to David, faces to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, “Please give me the place, the threshing floor, that I might build an altar on it to Yahweh; at full price please give it to me, that the plague against the people might be stopped.” 23 And Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself; let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. See, I give the cattle for the burnt offerings and threshing sledges for the wood and wheat for the grain offering—I give it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, for I will certainly buy it at full value; indeed, I will not take what is yours for Yahweh and offer burnt offerings for nothing.” 25 So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 Then David built an altar there to Yahweh, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he called to Yahweh. And he answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then Yahweh commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 Now the tabernacle of Yahweh that Moses had made in the desert and the altar of burnt offering were at that time at the high place of Gibeon. 30 But David was not able to go before it to seek God, for he was afraid on account of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 21:1 Or “an accuser,” or “an adversary”
  2. 1 Chronicles 21:13 Literally “Great trouble to me”
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1 Chronicles 21
New English Translation

The Lord Sends a Plague against Israel

21 An adversary[a] opposed[b] Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.[c] 2 David told Joab and the leaders of the army,[d] “Go, count the number of warriors[e] from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.”[f] 3 Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army[g] a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?”[h]

4 But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections.[i] So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported to David the number of warriors.[j] In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding[k] soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.[l] 6 Now Joab[m] did not number Levi and Benjamin, for the king’s edict disgusted him. 7 God was also offended by it,[n] so he attacked Israel.

8 David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 9 The Lord told Gad, David’s prophet,[o] 10 “Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them.”’”[p] 11 Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these: 12 three[q] years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords,[r] or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the angel of the Lord will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’[s] Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.” 13 David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!”[t] 14 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

15 God sent an angel[u] to ravage[v] Jerusalem. As he was doing so,[w] the Lord watched[x] and relented from[y] his judgment.[z] He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough![aa] Stop now!”[ab]

Now the angel of the Lord was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan[ac] the Jebusite. 16 David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.[ad] 17 David said to God, “Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed![ae] As for these sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family,[af] but remove the plague from your people!”[ag]

18 So the angel of the Lord told Gad to instruct David to go up and build[ah] an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of the Lord.[ai] 20 While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves. 21 When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face[aj] to the ground. 22 David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor[ak] so I can build[al] on it an altar for the Lord—I’ll pay top price[am]—so that the plague may be removed[an] from the people.” 23 Ornan told David, “You can have it![ao] My master, the king, may do what he wants.[ap] Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you.” 24 King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price.[aq] I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice[ar] that cost me nothing.[as] 25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold.[at] 26 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings.[au] He called out to the Lord, and the Lord[av] responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar. 27 The Lord ordered the messenger[aw] to put his sword back into its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord responded to him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 Now the Lord’s tabernacle (which Moses had made in the wilderness) and the altar for burnt sacrifices were at that time at the worship center[ax] in Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 21:1 tn Or “Satan.” The Hebrew word שָׂטָן (satan) refers to an adversary, typically used without the article to refer to anyone in an adversarial role. Used with the article in Job 1-2 and Zech 3:1-2, it refers to “The Satan,” the demonic opponent. Of the heavenly accuser in those passages NIDOTTE (IV, 1231) says that “it is improbable that a specific demonic being is referred to (a possible exception may be 1 Chr 21:1).” TLOT (p. 1269) believes that 1 Chr 21:1 represents the first use of “satan” without the article as a personal name. But see the study note at the end of the verse.
  2. 1 Chronicles 21:1 tn Heb “stood against.”
  3. 1 Chronicles 21:1 tn Heb “and incited David to count Israel.” As v. 5 indicates, David was not interested in a general census, but in determining how much military strength he had.sn The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:1 says, “The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel and he incited David against them, saying: ‘Go, count Israel and Judah!’” The version of the incident in the Book of 2 Samuel gives an underlying theological perspective, while the Chronicler simply describes what happened from a human perspective. Many interpreters and translations render the Hebrew שָׂטָן as a proper name here, “Satan” (NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, the Hebrew term שָׂטָן, which means “adversary,” is used here without the article. Elsewhere when it appears without the article, it refers to a personal or national adversary in the human sphere, the lone exception being Num 22:22, 32, where the angel of the Lord assumes the role of an adversary to Balaam. When referring elsewhere to the spiritual entity known in the NT as Satan, the noun has the article and is used as a title, “the Adversary” (see Job 1:6-9, 12; 2:1-4, 6-7; Zech 3:1-2). In light of usage elsewhere the adversary in 1 Chr 21:1 is likely a human enemy, probably a nearby nation whose hostility against Israel pressured David into numbering the people so he could assess his military strength. For compelling linguistic and literary arguments against taking the noun as a proper name here, see S. Japhet, I & II Chronicles (OTL), 374-75.
  4. 1 Chronicles 21:2 tn Or “people.”
  5. 1 Chronicles 21:2 tn Heb “Go, count Israel.” See the note on “had” in v. 1.
  6. 1 Chronicles 21:2 tn Heb “their number.”
  7. 1 Chronicles 21:3 tn Or “people.”
  8. 1 Chronicles 21:3 tn Heb “Why should it become guilt for Israel?” David’s decision betrays an underlying trust in his own strength rather than in divine provision. See also 1 Chr 27:23-24.
  9. 1 Chronicles 21:4 tn Heb “and the word of the king was stronger than Joab.”
  10. 1 Chronicles 21:5 tn Heb “and Joab gave to David the number of the numbering of the army [or “people”].”
  11. 1 Chronicles 21:5 tn Heb “a thousand thousands and 100,000.”
  12. 1 Chronicles 21:5 tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:9 has variant figures: “In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers.”
  13. 1 Chronicles 21:6 tn Heb “he”; the proper name (“Joab”) has been substituted for the pronoun here for stylistic reasons; the proper name occurs at the end of the verse in the Hebrew text, where it has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.
  14. 1 Chronicles 21:7 tn Heb “There was displeasure in the eyes of God concerning this thing.”
  15. 1 Chronicles 21:9 tn Heb “seer.”
  16. 1 Chronicles 21:10 tn Heb “Three I am extending to you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.”
  17. 1 Chronicles 21:12 tc The parallel text in the MT of 2 Sam 24:13 has “seven,” but LXX has “three” there.
  18. 1 Chronicles 21:12 tc Heb “or three months being swept away from before your enemies and the sword of your enemies overtaking.” The Hebrew term נִסְפֶּה (nispeh, Niphal participle from סָפָה, safah) should probably be emended to נֻסְכָה (nusekhah, Qal infinitive from נוּס [nus] with second masculine singular suffix). See 2 Sam 24:13.
  19. 1 Chronicles 21:12 tn Heb “or three days of the sword of the Lord and plague in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying in all the territory of Israel.”
  20. 1 Chronicles 21:13 tn Heb “There is great distress to me; let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but into the hand of men let me not fall.”
  21. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 24:15 reports that God sent a plague, while 24:16-17 attributes this to the instrumentality of an angel.
  22. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Or “destroy.”
  23. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “while he was destroying.”
  24. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Or “saw.”
  25. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Or “was grieved because of.”
  26. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”
  27. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn For this nuance of the Hebrew word רַב (rav), see BDB 913 s.v. 1.f.
  28. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”
  29. 1 Chronicles 21:15 tn In the parallel text in 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (ʾaravnaʾ, “Aravna”), traditionally “Araunah.” The form of the name found here also occurs in vv. 18-28.
  30. 1 Chronicles 21:16 tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”
  31. 1 Chronicles 21:17 tn “and doing evil I did evil.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite form of the verb for emphasis.
  32. 1 Chronicles 21:17 tn Heb “let your hand be on me and on the house of my father.”
  33. 1 Chronicles 21:17 tn Heb “but on your people not for a plague.”
  34. 1 Chronicles 21:18 tn Heb “that he should go up to raise up.”
  35. 1 Chronicles 21:19 tn Heb “and David went up by the word of Gad which he spoke in the name of the Lord.”
  36. 1 Chronicles 21:21 tn Heb “nostrils.”
  37. 1 Chronicles 21:22 tn Heb “the place of the threshing floor.”
  38. 1 Chronicles 21:22 tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive here indicates the immediate purpose: “so I can build.”
  39. 1 Chronicles 21:22 tn Heb “For full silver sell to me.”
  40. 1 Chronicles 21:22 tn Following the imperative and first person prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive, this third person prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive introduces the ultimate purpose: “so the plague may be removed.”
  41. 1 Chronicles 21:23 tn Heb “take for yourself.”
  42. 1 Chronicles 21:23 tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”
  43. 1 Chronicles 21:24 tn Heb “No, for buying I will buy for full silver.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
  44. 1 Chronicles 21:24 tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:24 has the plural “burnt sacrifices.”
  45. 1 Chronicles 21:24 tn Or “without [paying] compensation.”
  46. 1 Chronicles 21:25 tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 24:24 says David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for “fifty pieces of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.tn Heb “six hundred shekels of gold.” This would have been about 15 lbs. (6.8 kg) of gold by weight.
  47. 1 Chronicles 21:26 tn Or “tokens of peace.”
  48. 1 Chronicles 21:26 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  49. 1 Chronicles 21:27 tn Heb “spoke to the messenger.”
  50. 1 Chronicles 21:29 tn Or “high place.”
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