1 Chronicles 20:1–24:31
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20:1 In the spring, at the time when kings normally conduct wars,1 Joab led the army into battle and devastated the land of the Ammonites. He went and besieged Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down. 20:2 David took the crown from the head of their king2 and wore it3 (its weight was a talent4 of gold and it was set with precious stones). He took a large amount of plunder from the city. 20:3 He removed the city’s residents and made them do hard labor with saws, iron picks, and axes.5 This was his policy6 with all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.

Battles with the Philistines

20:4 Later there was a battle7 with the Philistines in Gezer.8 At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai,9 one of the descendants of the Rephaim, and the Philistines10 were subdued.

20:5 There was another battle with the Philistines in which Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite,11 whose spear had a shaft as big as the crossbeam of a weaver’s loom.12

20:6 In a battle in Gath13 there was a large man who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all! He too was a descendant of Rapha. 20:7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea,14 David’s brother, killed him.

20:8 These were the descendants of Rapha who lived in Gath; they were killed15 by the hand of David and his soldiers.16

The Lord Sends a Plague against Israel

21:1 An adversary1 opposed2 Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.3 21:2 David told Joab and the leaders of the army,4 “Go, count the number of warriors5 from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.”6 21:3 Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army7 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?”8

21:4 But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections.9 So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem.10 21:5 Joab reported to David the number of warriors.11 In all Israel there were 1,100,00012 sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.13 21:6 Now Joab14 did not number Levi and Benjamin, for the king’s edict disgusted him. 21:7 God was also offended by it,15 so he attacked Israel.

21:8 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.” 21:9 The Lord told Gad, David’s prophet,16 21:10 “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.” ’ ”17 21:11 Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these: 21:12 three18 years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords,19 or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the Lord’s messenger will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’20 Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.” 21:13 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!”21 21:14 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

21:15 God sent an angel22 to ravage23 Jerusalem. As he was doing so,24 the Lord watched25 and relented from26 his judgment.27 He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough!28 Stop now!”29

Now the Lord’s angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan30 the Jebusite. 21:16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s messenger 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.31 21:17 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!32 As for these sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family,33 but remove the plague from your people!”34

21:18 So the Lord’s messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build35 an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 21:19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of the Lord.36 21:20 While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves. 21:21 When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face37 to the ground. 21:22 David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor38 so I can build39 on it an altar for the Lord—I’ll pay top price40—so that the plague may be removed41 from the people.” 21:23 Ornan told David, “You can have it!42 My master, the king, may do what he wants.43 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.” 21:24 King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price.44 I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice45 that cost me nothing.46 21:25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold.47 21:26 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings.48 He called out to the Lord, and the Lord49 responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar. 21:27 The Lord ordered the messenger50 to put his sword back into its sheath.

21:28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord responded to him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 21:29 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 center51 in Gibeon. 21:30 But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the Lord’s messenger. 22:1 David then said, “This is the place where the temple of the Lord God will be, along with the altar for burnt sacrifices for Israel.”

David Orders a Temple to Be Built

22:2 David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple. 22:3 David supplied a large amount of iron for the nails of the doors of the gates and for braces, more bronze than could be weighed, 22:4 and more cedar logs than could be counted. (The Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large amount of cedar logs to David.)

22:5 David said, “My son Solomon is just an inexperienced young man,1 and the temple to be built for the Lord must be especially magnificent so it will become famous and be considered splendid by all the nations.2 Therefore I will make preparations for its construction.” So David made extensive preparations before he died.

22:6 He summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a temple for the Lord God of Israel. 22:7 David said to Solomon: “My son, I really wanted3 to build a temple to honor4 the Lord my God. 22:8 But the Lord said to me:5 ‘You have spilled a great deal of blood and fought many battles. You must not build a temple to honor me,6 for you have spilled a great deal of blood on the ground before me. 22:9 Look, you will have a son, who will be a peaceful man.7 I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side.8 Indeed, Solomon9 will be his name; I will give Israel peace and quiet during his reign.10 22:10 He will build a temple to honor me;11 he will become my son, and I will become his father. I will grant to his dynasty permanent rule over Israel.’12

22:11 “Now, my son, may the Lord be with you! May you succeed and build a temple for the Lord your God, just as he announced you would.13 22:12 Only may the Lord give you insight and understanding when he places you in charge of Israel, so you may obey14 the law of the Lord your God. 22:13 Then you will succeed, if you carefully obey the rules and regulations which the Lord ordered Moses to give to Israel.15 Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic!16 22:14 Now, look, I have made every effort to supply what is needed to build the Lord’s temple.17 I have stored up 100,000 talents18 of gold, 1,000,00019 talents of silver, and so much bronze and iron it cannot be weighed, as well as wood and stones. Feel free to add more! 22:15 You also have available many workers, including stonecutters, masons, carpenters,20 and an innumerable array of workers who are skilled 22:16 in using gold, silver, bronze, and iron.21 Get up and begin the work! May the Lord be with you!”

22:17 David ordered all the officials of Israel to support22 his son Solomon. 22:18 He told them,23 “The Lord your God is with you!24 He has made you secure on every side,25 for he handed over to me the inhabitants of the region26 and the region27 is subdued before the Lord and his people. 22:19 Now seek the Lord your God wholeheartedly and with your entire being!28 Get up and build the sanctuary of the Lord God! Then you can bring29 the ark of the Lord’s covenant and the holy items dedicated to God’s service30 into the temple that is built to honor the Lord.”31

David Organizes the Levites

23:1 When David was old and approaching the end of his life,1 he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

23:2 David2 assembled all the leaders of Israel, along with the priests and the Levites. 23:3 The Levites who were thirty years old and up were counted; there were 38,000 men.3 23:4 David said,4 “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges; 23:5 4,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I supplied for worship.”5 23:6 David divided them into groups corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

23:7 The Gershonites included Ladan and Shimei.

23:8 The sons of Ladan:

Jehiel the oldest, Zetham, and Joel—…

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1	tn Heb “and it was at the time of the turning of the year, at the time of the going out of kings.”
2	tc The translation follows the MT, which reads “of their king”; the LXX and Vulgate read “of Milcom” (cf. 1 Kgs 11:5). Milcom, also known as Molech, was the god of the Ammonites.
3	tn Heb “and it was on the head of David.”
4	sn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6.
5	tc The Hebrew text reads “saws,” but since saws were just mentioned, it is preferable to emend מְגֵרוֹת (mégerot, “saws”) to מַגְזְרוֹת (magzérot, “axes”).
6	tn Heb “and so he would do.”
7	tn Heb “battle stood.”
8	tn The parallel text in 2 Sam 21:18 identifies this site as “Gob.”
9	tn The parallel text in 2 Sam 21:18 has the variant spelling “Saph.”
10	tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Philistines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11	tc The Hebrew text reads, “Elchanan son of Jair killed Lachmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite.” But it is likely that the accusative marker in front of לַחְמִי (lakhmiy, “Lachmi”) is a corruption of בֵּית (bet), and that אֶת־לַחְמִי (’et-lakhmiy) should be emended to בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי (bet hallakhmiy, “the Bethlehemite”). See 2 Sam 21:19.
12	tc See tc note on the parallel passage in 2 Sam 21:19.
13	tn Heb “and there was another battle, in Gath.”
14	tn The parallel text in 2 Sam 21:21 has the variant spelling “Shimeah.”
15	tn Heb “they fell.”
16	tn Heb “his servants.”
1	tn Or “Satan.” The Hebrew word שָׂטָן (satan) can refer to an adversary in general or Satan in particular. There is no article accompanying the term here, which suggests it should be understood generally (cf. NAB “a satan”).
2	tn Heb “stood against.”
3	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	tn Or “people.”
5	tn Heb “Go, count Israel.” See the note on “had” in v. 1.
6	tn Heb “their number.”
7	tn Or “people.”
8	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	tn Heb “and the word of the king was stronger than Joab.”
10	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
11	tn Heb “and Joab gave to David the number of the numbering of the army [or “people”].”
12	tn Heb “a thousand thousands and one hundred thousand.”
13	tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:9 has variant figures: “In Israel there were eight hundred thousand sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were five hundred thousands soldiers.”
14	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.
15	tn Heb “There was displeasure in the eyes of God concerning this thing.”
16	tn Heb “seer.”
17	tn Heb “Three I am extending to you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.”
18	tc The parallel text in the MT of 2 Sam 24:13 has “seven,” but LXX has “three” there.
19	tc Heb “or three months being swept away from before your enemies and the sword of your enemies overtaking.” The Hebrew term נִסְפֶּה (nisppeh, Niphal participle from סָפָה, safah) should probably be emended to נֻסְכָה (nusékhah, Qal infinitive from נוּס [nus] with second masculine singular suffix). See 2 Sam 24:13.
20	tn Heb “or three days of the sword of the Lord and plague in the land, and the messenger [or “angel”] of the Lord destroying in all the territory of Israel.”
21	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.”
22	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.
23	tn Or “destroy.”
24	tn Heb “while he was destroying.”
25	tn Or “saw.”
26	tn Or “was grieved because of.”
27	tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”
28	tn For this nuance of the Hebrew word רַב (rav), see BDB 913 s.v. 1.f.
29	tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”
30	tn In the parallel text in 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (’aravna’, “Aravna”), traditionally “Araunah.” The form of the name found here also occurs in vv. 18–28.
31	tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”
32	tn “and doing evil I did evil.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite form of the verb for emphasis.
33	tn Heb “let your hand be on me and on the house of my father.”
34	tn Heb “but on your people not for a plague.”
35	tn Heb “that he should go up to raise up.”
36	tn Heb “and David went up by the word of Gad which he spoke in the name of the Lord.”
37	tn Heb “nostrils.”
38	tn Heb “the place of the threshing floor.”
39	tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive here indicates the immediate purpose/result: “so I can build.”
40	tn Heb “For full silver sell to me.”
41	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/result: “so the plague may be removed.” Another option is subordinate this form to the preceding imperative, but the latter may be taken as a parenthetical expansion of the initial request.
42	tn Heb “take for yourself.”
43	tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”
44	tn Heb “No, for buying I will buy for full silver.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
45	tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:24 has the plural “burnt sacrifices.”
46	tn Or “without [paying] compensation.”
47	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.
48	tn Or “tokens of peace.”
49	tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
50	tn Heb “spoke to the messenger.”
51	tn Or “high place.”
1	tn Heb “a young man and tender.”
2	tn Heb “and the house to build to make exceedingly great for a name and for splendor for all the lands.”
3	tn Heb “I was with my heart.”
4	tn Heb “for the name of.”
5	tn Heb “and the word of the Lord was [i.e., came] to me saying.”
6	tn Heb “for my name.”
7	tn Heb “man of rest.”
8	tn Heb “his enemies all around.”
9	sn The name Solomon (שְׁלֹמֹה, shélomoh) sounds like (and may be derived from) the Hebrew word for “peace” (שָׁלוֹם, shalom).
10	tn Heb “in his days.”
11	tn Heb “for my name.”
12	tn Heb “and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel permanently.”
13	tn Heb “as he spoke concerning you.”
14	tn Or “keep.”
15	tn Heb “which the Lord commanded Moses concerning Israel.”
16	tn Or perhaps, “and don’t get discouraged.”
17	tn Heb “and look, in my affliction [or perhaps, “poverty”] I have supplied for the house of the Lord.”
18	tn See the note on the word “talents” in 19:6.
19	tn Heb “a thousand thousands.”
20	tn Heb “craftsmen of stone and wood.”
21	tn Heb “and every kind of skilled one in all work, concerning gold, concerning silver, and concerning bronze, and concerning iron, there is no numbering.”
22	tn Or “help.”
23	tn The words “he told them” are added in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
24	tn In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Is not the Lord your God with you?” The question anticipates the response, “Of course he is!” Thus in the translation the positive statement “The Lord your God is with you!” has been used.
25	tn Heb “and he gives rest to you all around.”
26	tn Or “earth.”
27	tn Or “earth.”
28	tn Heb “now give your heart and your being to seek the Lord your God.”
29	tn Heb “to bring.”
30	tn Heb “items of holiness of God.”
31	tn Heb “for the name of the Lord.”
1	tn Heb “and full of years.”
2	tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3	tn Heb “and their number by their heads, by men, was 38,000.”
4	tn The words “David said” are supplied here in the translation for clarification. The appearance of the first person verb “I supplied” in v. 5 indicates that David is speaking here.
5	tn Heb “made to [or “for”] praise.”

Verse of the Day: Isaiah 25:9

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1 Chronicles 20:1–24:31 DARBYASVABSVDVGCLEMD-RELB 1905GDBGWNETThe NET Bible

Verse of the Day: Isaiah 25:9

1 Chronicles 20:1–24:31
DARBY
ASV
ABSVD
VGCLEM
D-R
ELB 1905
GDB
GW
NET
The NET Bible