1 Chronicles 21 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

The Census of Israel and Judah

David Builds an Altar

(2 Sam. 24:1–25 )

1Ch 21:1Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

1Ch 21:2So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”

1Ch 21:3

1Ch 21:3And Joab answered, “May the LORD make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”

1Ch 21:4

1Ch 21:4Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 21:5

1Ch 21:5Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword.

1Ch 21:6

1Ch 21:6But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.

1Ch 21:7

1Ch 21:7And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.

1Ch 21:8

1Ch 21:8So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

1Ch 21:9

1Ch 21:9Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,

1Ch 21:10

1Ch 21:10“Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”

1Ch 21:11

1Ch 21:11So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Choose for yourself,

1Ch 21:12

1Ch 21:12‘either three[fn] years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD—the plague in the land, with the angel[fn] of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”

1Ch 21:13

1Ch 21:13And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

1Ch 21:14

1Ch 21:14So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.

1Ch 21:15

1Ch 21:15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he[fn] was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your[fn] hand.” And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan[fn] the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:16

1Ch 21:16Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

1Ch 21:17

1Ch 21:17And David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”

1Ch 21:18

1Ch 21:18Therefore, the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:19

1Ch 21:19So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the LORD.

1Ch 21:20

1Ch 21:20Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat.

1Ch 21:21

1Ch 21:21So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground.

1Ch 21:22

1Ch 21:22Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the LORD. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”

1Ch 21:23

1Ch 21:23But Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all.”

1Ch 21:24

1Ch 21:24Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.”

1Ch 21:25

1Ch 21:25So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.

1Ch 21:26

1Ch 21:26And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

1Ch 21:27

1Ch 21:27So the LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

1Ch 21:28

1Ch 21:28At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.

1Ch 21:29

1Ch 21:29For the tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon.

1Ch 21:30

1Ch 21:30But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(21:12)

Or seven (compare 2 Samuel 24:13)

(21:12)

Or Angel, and so elsewhere in this chapter

(21:15)

Or He

(21:15)

Or Your

(21:15)

Spelled Araunah in 2 Samuel 24:16

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

1 Chronicles Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

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1 Chronicles 21 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

NKJV Footnotes

1 Chronicles Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

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