1 Chronicles 21:18
in 1 Chronicles 21Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
KJV
Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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This verse in 1 Chronicles 21
Commentary
6 notes on this verseWhen of old the Philistines had been overcome, when their devilish audacity had been destroyed, when their champion had fallen on his face to the earth, it was from this city that there went forth a procession of jubilant souls, a harmonious choir to sing our David's victory over tens of thousands. Here, too, it was that the angel grasped his sword, and while he laid waste the whole of the ungodly city, he marked out the temple of the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan, king of the Jebusites.
This site's exposition
ordered Gad to tell David
on 1 Chronicles 21:18-19
The instruction reaches David, “to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite”. A working floor is named for what it is about to become. David obeys “at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD”.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But God sees not as man sees. It is plain it was wrong in David to do it, and a great provocation to God, because he did it in the pride of his heart; and there is no sin that has in it more of contradiction and therefore more of offence to God than pride. The sin was David's; he alone must bear the blame of it.
Thus the revelation of Jesus Christ was notified by the angel to John, and by him to the churches. The commanding of David to build an altar was a blessed token of reconciliation; for, if God had been pleased to kill him, he would not have appointed, because he would not have accepted, a sacrifice at his hands.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
It has been observed that it is only in books of a late period that Angels are brought forward as intermediaries between God and the prophets. This, no doubt, is true; and it is certainly unlikely that the records, from which the author of Chronicles drew, spoke of Gad as receiving his knowledge of God’s will from an angel.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Here we are informed of the quarter whence the prophet got his commission. It is only in the later stages of Israel's history that we find angels employed in communicating the divine will to the prophets. Ornan was threshing wheat--If the census was entered upon in autumn, the beginning of the civil year, the nine and a half months it occupied would end at wheat harvest.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
but these sheep, what have they done for they are like sheep brought to the slaughter, who cannot be saved from slaughter because they are destined for it.
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
16 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמַלְאַ֧ךְ | umalakh | and [the] angel of | H4397 → | 213 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אָמַ֥ר | ʾamar | he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| גָּ֖ד | gad | Gad | H1410 → | 72 times |
| לֵאמֹ֣ר | lemor | to say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לְדָוִ֑יד | ledavid | to David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| כִּ֣י׀ | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַעֲלֶ֣ה | yaaleh | he will go up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| דָוִ֗יד | david | David | H1732 → | 999 times |
| לְהָקִ֤ים | lehakim | to set up | H6965 → | 628 times |
| מִזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ | mizbeach | an altar | H4196 → | 401 times |
| לַיהוָ֔ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּגֹ֖רֶן | begoren | on [the] threshing floor of | H1637 → | 36 times |
| אָרְנָ֥ן | ʾarenan | Ornan | H771 → | 12 times |
| הַיְבֻסִֽי׃ | hayvusi | the Jebusite | H2983 → | 41 times |
וּמַלְאַ֧ךְand [the] angel of
umalakhH4397 →213 times
יְהוָ֛הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אָמַ֥רhe said
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
גָּ֖דGad
gadH1410 →72 times
לֵאמֹ֣רto say
lemorH559 →5305 times
לְדָוִ֑ידto David
ledavidH1732 →999 times
כִּ֣י׀that
kiH3588 →4482 times
יַעֲלֶ֣הhe will go up
yaalehH5927 →890 times
דָוִ֗ידDavid
davidH1732 →999 times
לְהָקִ֤יםto set up
lehakimH6965 →628 times
מִזְבֵּ֙חַ֙an altar
mizbeachH4196 →401 times
לַיהוָ֔הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּגֹ֖רֶןon [the] threshing floor of
begorenH1637 →36 times
אָרְנָ֥ןOrnan
ʾarenanH771 →12 times
הַיְבֻסִֽי׃the Jebusite
hayvusiH2983 →41 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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 Chronicles 3:1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the…
it leads to
- Genesis 22:14
And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- Genesis 22:2
“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will…
- 1 Chronicles 22:1
Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God, as well as the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
- Genesis 22:14
Through
1 Chronicles 21:15Then 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…
it leads to
- Genesis 6:6
And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
- Exodus 32:14
So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.
- Matthew 23:37–38
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Mark 14:41
When Jesus returned the third time, He said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? That is enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
- Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a…
- Genesis 6:6
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Chronicles
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, LETTER 46.2; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.