Help QuickNav Adv. Options
NLT

NLT

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
Copy Options
Cite Print
The Blue Letter Bible

1 Chronicles 21 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles
David Takes a Census
(2Sa 24:1–25 )

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:1 - Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:2 - So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:3 - But Joab replied, “May the LORD increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:4 - But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:5 - and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:6 - But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.
Judgment for David’s Sin

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:7 - God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:8 - Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish thing.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:9 - Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer. This was the message:

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:10 - “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:11 - So Gad came to David and said, “These are the choices the LORD has given you.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:12 - You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the LORD brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the LORD who sent me.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:13 - “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:14 - So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:15 - And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah[fn] the Jebusite.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:16 - David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem. So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:17 - And David said to God, “I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? O LORD my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people.”
David Builds an Altar

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:18 - Then the angel of the LORD told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:19 - So David went up to do what the LORD had commanded him through Gad.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:20 - Araunah, who was busy threshing wheat at the time, turned and saw the angel there. His four sons, who were with him, ran away and hid.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:21 - When Araunah saw David approaching, he left his threshing floor and bowed before David with his face to the ground.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:22

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:22 - David said to Araunah, “Let me buy this threshing floor from you at its full price. Then I will build an altar to the LORD there, so that he will stop the plague.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:23

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:23 - “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, and the threshing boards for wood to build a fire on the altar, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all to you.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:24

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:24 - But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not take what is yours and give it to the LORD. I will not present burnt offerings that have cost me nothing!”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:25

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:25 - So David gave Araunah 600 pieces of gold[fn] in payment for the threshing floor.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:26 - David built an altar there to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And when David prayed, the LORD answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:27

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:27 - Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put the sword back into its sheath.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:28

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:28 - When David saw that the LORD had answered his prayer, he offered sacrifices there at Araunah’s threshing floor.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:29

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:29 - At that time the Tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of burnt offering that Moses had made in the wilderness were located at the place of worship in Gibeon.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ch 21:30

Unchecked Copy Box1Ch 21:30 - But David was not able to go there to inquire of God, because he was terrified by the drawn sword of the angel of the LORD.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
As in parallel text at 2 Sam 24:16; Hebrew reads Ornan, another name for Araunah; also in 21:18-28.
Hebrew 600 shekels of gold, about 15 pounds or 6.8 kilograms in weight.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
NLT
  [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
NLT
Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan

1 Chronicles Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras