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1 Chronicles 21:5

in 1 Chronicles 21

And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

KJV

And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

This verse in 1 Chronicles 21

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
In 2Sa 24:9 the numbers are different. The explanation there given is not so generally accepted as the supposition that the numbers have, in one passage or the other (or possibly in both), suffered corruption.

This site's exposition

the king’s word prevailed against Joab

on 1 Chronicles 21:4-6

Joab's count reaches every tribe, and Chronicles gives its own totals of 1,100,000 swordsmen in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. The account in 2 Samuel 24:9 gives 800,000 and 500,000. Albert Barnes reads the differing totals as a census left unfinished and recorded at two stages.

This site's exposition

the total number of the troops

Joab counts 1,100,000 swordsmen in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. Albert Barnes notes that 2 Samuel 24:9 gives different totals and holds that copyists changed the figures. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read so large a count as proof that God kept His promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O L ORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:97%@v17

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

So large a population at this early period, considering the limited extent of the country and comparing it with the earlier census (Nu 26:1-65), is a striking proof of the fulfilment of the promise (Ge 15:5).

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

All they of Israel were a thousand thousand - Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand - In the parallel place, 2Sa 24:9 (note), the men of Israel are reckoned eight hundred thousand, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand.

The words behind it

26 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.

  • וַיִּתֵּ֥ןand he gave

    vaiyitenH5414 →2011 times

  • יוֹאָ֛בJoab

    yoavH3097 →144 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מִסְפַּ֥ר[the] number of

    misparH4557 →134 times

  • מִפְקַד־[the] muster of

    mifkad-H4662 →

  • הָעָ֖םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • דָּוִ֑ידDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • וַיְהִ֣יand it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • כָֽל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֡לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • אֶ֣לֶףone thousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אֲלָפִים֩thousands

    ʾalafimH505 →505 times

  • וּמֵאָ֨הand one hundred

    umeahH3967 →581 times

  • אֶ֤לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אִישׁ֙man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • שֹׁ֣לֵֽף[who] drew out

    sholefH8025 →25 times

  • חֶ֔רֶבa sword

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • וִֽיהוּדָ֕הand Judah

    vihudahH3063 →819 times

  • אַרְבַּע֩four

    ʾarba'H702 →318 times

  • מֵא֨וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • וְשִׁבְעִ֥יםand seventy

    veshivimH7657 →

  • אֶ֛לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אִ֖ישׁman

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • שֹׁ֥לֵֽף[who] drew out

    sholefH8025 →25 times

  • חָֽרֶב׃a sword

    charevH2719 →413 times

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

The walk

7 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

    1 Chronicles 27:23

    David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 15:5

      And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

    • 1 Chronicles 21:2–5

      So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”

    • Numbers 1:18

      and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age…

    • Hebrews 11:12

      And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 24:9

    And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 27:23–24

      David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.

    • 1 Chronicles 21:5–6

      And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.

    • Numbers 1:44–46

      These were the men numbered by Moses and Aaron, with the assistance of the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Chronicles

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.