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1 Chronicles 21:3

in 1 Chronicles 21

But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Joab said, Jehovah make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel?

KJV

And Joab answered, The Lord make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

This verse in 1 Chronicles 21

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Why, &c. - Or, why should this be a cause of trespass, or an occasion of punishment to Israel? God commonly punishes the people for the sins of their rulers, because they are for the most part guilty of their sins in one kind or other; or at least God takes this occasion to punish people for all their sins.

This site's exposition

bring guilt on Israel

Chronicles gives Joab a sharper objection than 2 Samuel 24:3, where he asks only why the king wants such a thing. Here Joab asks why the king should “bring guilt on Israel”. He still appeals to the king's stewardship, asking whether they are “all servants of my lord”.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?--or bring an occasion of punishment on Israel. In Hebrew, the word "sin" is often used synonymously with the punishment of sin.

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

The words behind it

23 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יוֹאָ֗בJoab

    yoavH3097 →144 times

  • יוֹסֵף֩may he add

    yosefH3254 →212 times

  • יְהוָ֨הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • עַמּ֤וֹ׀people his

    amoH5971 →1873 times

  • כָּהֵם֙like them

    kahem

  • מֵאָ֣הa hundred

    meahH3967 →581 times

  • פְעָמִ֔יםtimes

    feamimH6471 →

  • הֲלֹא֙¿ not

    halo'H3808 →5168 times

  • אֲדֹנִ֣יO lord my

    ʾadoniH113 →333 times

  • הַמֶּ֔לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • כֻּלָּ֥ם[do] all of them

    kulamH3605 →5413 times

  • לַאדֹנִ֖י[belong] to lord my

    ladoniH113 →333 times

  • לַעֲבָדִ֑יםto subjects

    laavadimH5650 →799 times

  • לָ֣מָּה<to> why?

    lamahH4100 →752 times

  • יְבַקֵּ֥שׁdoes he seek

    yevakeshH1245 →225 times

  • זֹאת֙this

    zotH2063 →603 times

  • אֲדֹנִ֔יlord my

    ʾadoniH113 →333 times

  • לָ֛מָּה<to> why?

    lamahH4100 →752 times

  • יִהְיֶ֥הwill it become

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • לְאַשְׁמָ֖ה<into> guilt

    leashmahH819 →

  • לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃for Israel

    leyisraelH3478 →2507 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

    Deuteronomy 1:11

    May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 22:17

      I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 115:14

      May the LORD give you increase, both you and your children.

    • Numbers 6:27

      So they shall put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

    • Genesis 26:4

      I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

  • Through

    Psalms 115:14

    May the LORD give you increase, both you and your children.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 1:11

      May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over and bless you as He has promised.

    • Acts 2:39

      This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

    • Acts 3:25

      And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’

    • Jeremiah 33:22

      As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister…

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.

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil, The Books of the Chronicles.