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1 Chronicles 21:14

in 1 Chronicles 21

So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

KJV

So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

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This verse in 1 Chronicles 21

Commentary

2 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He was proud of the multitude of his people, but divine Justice took a course to make them fewer. Justly is that taken from us, weakened, or embittered to us, which we are proud of.

This site's exposition

the LORD sent a plague upon Israel

Seventy thousand die, the same count Samuel gives, letting the number stand as judgment matched exactly to what David's pride had multiplied. Matthew Henry reads the stroke as proportioned punishment, the census that swelled David's pride reduced by plague to teach him what his numbers were worth.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

I am greatly oppressed You tell me, “Choose the mildest of them. It is hard for me, and I am greatly oppressed about it.” This can be compared to a [sick] person, to whom people said, “Behold you are going to die.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Chronicles 21:13:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
But as [the angel] was about to wreak destruction, the Lord saw and renounced.
Radak: Provence, 1160–1235 · Radak on I Chronicles 21:15:1, via Sefaria, The Commentary of Radak to Chronicles: A Translation with Introduction and Supercommentary, by Yitzhak Berger, Brown University, 2007

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּתֵּ֧ןand he put

    vaiyitenH5414 →2011 times

  • יְהוָ֛הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • דֶּ֖בֶרa pestilence

    deverH1698 →

  • בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑לon Israel

    beyisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וַיִּפֹּל֙and it fell

    vaiyipolH5307 →435 times

  • מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֔לof Israel

    miyisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • שִׁבְעִ֥יםseventy

    shivimH7657 →

  • אֶ֖לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אִֽישׁ׃person[s]

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

11 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

2 Samuel 24:15So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.4 works1 Samuel 6:19But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.3 worksNumbers 16:46–49Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”3 works2 Kings 19:35And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!3 worksExodus 12:30During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.3 worksNumbers 25:9but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.3 works
The other 5 cross-references, with their words ▾
1 Chronicles 27:24Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of the Chronicles of King David.3 worksExodus 30:12“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.3 works1 Chronicles 21:7This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.2 worksJoshua 22:18And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.2 worksNumbers 16:49But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Kings 19:35

    And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 37:36

      Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Chronicles 32:21–22

      and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in…

    • 2 Samuel 24:16

      But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that…

    • Exodus 12:29–30

      Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon,…

    • Psalms 76:5–7

      The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 6:19

    But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 4:20

      But the Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment, or they will die.”

    • Exodus 19:21

      and the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD, lest many of them perish.

    • Numbers 4:15

      When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they…

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Chronicles

King David Playing the Harp, Gerard van Honthorst, 1622. Public domain.
King David Playing the Harp, Gerard van Honthorst, 1622. Public domain.
1 Chronicles: the study guide →Read 1 Chronicles 21 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Chronicles 21 →