1 Chronicles 21:1 BSB

1 Chronicles 21:1

Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

KJV

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

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Commentary

4 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

As the books of Scripture are arranged in our Version, Satan is here for the first time by name introduced to us. He appears not merely as an “adversary” who seeks to injure man from without, but as a Tempter able to ruin him by suggesting sinful acts and thoughts from within. In this point of view, the revelation made of him here is the most advanced that we find in the Old Testament. The difficulty in reconciling the statement here, “Satan provoked David,” etc. with that of Samuel, “the Lord moved David,” etc. 2Sa 24:1 is not serious.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Satan stood - Before the Lord and his tribunal to accuse David and Israel, and to beg God's permission to tempt David. Standing is the accusers posture before men's tribunals; and consequently the holy scripture (which useth to speak of the things of God, after the manner of men, to bring them down to our capacities) elsewhere represent Satan in this posture.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The righteous judgments of God are to be observed and acknowledged even in the sins and unrighteousness of men. We are sure that God is not the author of sin--he tempts no man; and therefore, when it is said that he moved David to do it, it must be explained by what is intimated here, that, for wise and holy ends, he permitted the devil to do it.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Hence the numbering of that people was in itself regarded as an undertaking by which the anger of God could be easily aroused; but when the arrangements were made by Moses for the taking of the census, God was not angry because the people were numbered for the express purpose of the tax for the sanctuary, and the money which was thus collected ("the atonement money," Ex 30:16) appeased Him.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

10 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיַּֽעֲמֹ֥ד	vai.ya.'a.Mod	and he rose up	H5975 →
שָׂטָ֖ן	sa.Tan	an adversary	H7854 →
עַל־	'al-	on	H5921 →
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל	Yis.ra.'El	Israel	H3478 →
וַיָּ֙סֶת֙	vai.Ya.set	and he incited	H5496 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
דָּוִ֔יד	da.Vid	David	H1732 →
לִמְנ֖וֹת	lim.Not	to count	H4487 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃	Yis.ra.'El	Israel	H3478 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

H4487limnotto count28×

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our…
leads to
- Luke 22:31
  Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Zechariah 3:1–2
  Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
- Revelation 11:15
  Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign…
- Daniel 2:44
  In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms…
- 1 Chronicles 29:11
  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom,…
Through
Zechariah 3:1
Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
leads to
- 1 Peter 5:8
  Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Job 2:1–8
  On another day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him.
- Revelation 12:9–10
  And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Featured studies on this passage

On 1 Chronicles 21:1

Satan Across the Testaments

The enemy arrives first as a function — the accuser — and only later wears a name; trace the unveiling from Job's courtroom to Revelation's dragon.

Open the study →

About 1 Chronicles

Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

1 Chronicles: the study guide →Read chapter 21 →The featured study →

PersonUnited MonarchyDavidSecond king of united Israel, shepherd-turned-monarch, ancestor of the Messiah, and traditional author of many Psalms.

Continue: 1 Chronicles 21 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About 1 Chronicles

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About 1 Chronicles