21 1 David causeth the people to be numbered, 14 and there dieth seventy thousand men of the pestilence.

And [a]Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

Therefore David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people, Go, and number Israel from [b]Beersheba even to Dan, and bring it to me, that I may know the number of them.

And Joab answered, The Lord increased his people an hundred times so many as they be, O my lord the king: are they not all my lord’s servants? wherefore doeth my lord require this thing? why should he be a cause of [c]trespass to Israel?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 21:1 He tempted David, in setting before his eyes his excellency and glory, his power and victories, read 2 Sam. 24:1.
  2. 1 Chronicles 21:2 That is, from South to North.
  3. 1 Chronicles 21:3 It was a thing indifferent and usual to number the people, but because he did it of an ambitious mind, as though his strength stood in his people, God punished him.

Bible Gateway Recommends