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1 Chronicles 21:15

in 1 Chronicles 21

Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

KJV

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

This verse in 1 Chronicles 21

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And God sent an angel - Thus the Targum: “And the Word of the Lord sent the angel of death against Jerusalem to destroy it; and he beheld the ashes of the binding of Isaac at the foot of the altar, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, which he made in the Mount of Worship; and the house of the upper sanctuary, where are the souls of the righteous, and the image of Jacob fixed on the throne of glory; and he turned in his Word from the evil which he designed to do unto them; and he said to the destroying angel, Cease; take Abishai their chief from among them, and cease from smiting the rest of the people.

This site's exposition

relented from the calamity

on 1 Chronicles 21:15-16

The LORD stopped the destroying angel, who stood “by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite”, whom 2 Samuel 24:16 calls Araunah. Verse 16 adds what Samuel's report lacks. David sees the angel “standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem”.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

When David repented of the sin God repented of the judgment, and ordered the destroying angel to stay his hand and sheath his sword,

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

So the Lord . . . sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it--The infliction only of the pestilence is here noticed, without any account of its duration or its ravages, while a minute description is given of the visible appearance and menacing attitude of the destroying angel.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite--Ornan was probably his Hebrew or Jewish, Araunah his Jebusite or Canaanitish, name. Whether he was the old king of Jebus, as that title is given to him (2Sa 24:23), or not, he had been converted to the worship of the true God, and was possessed both of property and influence.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

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
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
extended over Jerusalem In Joshua (5:13), it says: “.. and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, etc.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Chronicles 21:16:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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

25 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַח֩and he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • הָאֱלֹהִ֨ים׀<the> God

    haelohimH430 →2601 times

  • מַלְאָ֥ךְ׀an angel

    malakhH4397 →213 times

  • לִֽירוּשָׁלִַם֮to Jerusalem

    lirushalimH3389 →643 times

  • לְהַשְׁחִיתָהּ֒to destroy it

    lehashchitahH7843 →146 times

  • וּכְהַשְׁחִ֗יתand just as was destroying [it]

    ukhehashchitH7843 →146 times

  • רָאָ֤הhe saw

    raahH7200 →1300 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וַיִּנָּ֣חֶםand he relented

    vaiyinachemH5162 →108 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הָֽרָעָ֔הthe calamity

    haraahH7451 →662 times

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לַמַּלְאָ֤ךְto the angel

    lamalakhH4397 →213 times

  • הַמַּשְׁחִית֙<the> destroying

    hamashchitH7843 →146 times

  • רַ֔בenough

    ravH7227 →454 times

  • עַתָּ֖הnow

    ʾatahH6258 →433 times

  • הֶ֣רֶףlet drop

    herefH7503 →

  • יָדֶ֑ךָhand your

    yadekhaH3027 →1618 times

  • וּמַלְאַ֤ךְand [the] angel of

    umalakhH4397 →213 times

  • יְהוָה֙Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • עֹמֵ֔ד[was] standing

    ʾomedH5975 →521 times

  • עִם־near

    ʾim-H5973 →1050 times

  • גֹּ֖רֶן[the] threshing floor of

    gorenH1637 →36 times

  • אָרְנָ֥ןOrnan

    ʾarenanH771 →12 times

  • הַיְבוּסִֽי׃ סthe Jebusite

    hayvusiH2983 →41 times

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

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

    Genesis 6:6

    And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 63:10

      But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.

    • 1 Samuel 15:11

      “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all…

    • Ephesians 4:30

      And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

    • Hebrews 3:10

      Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’

    • 1 Samuel 15:29

      Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

  • Through

    Exodus 32:14

    So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

    it leads to

    • Jonah 3:10

      When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

    • Psalms 106:45

      And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

    • Jeremiah 26:13

      So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Chronicles

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.