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1 Chronicles 21:12

in 1 Chronicles 21

between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of Jehovah, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

KJV

Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

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This verse in 1 Chronicles 21

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
And the angel of the Lord destroying ... - These words are not in Samuel, which puts the third alternative briefly. They prepare the way for the angelic appearance 1Ch 21:16, on which the author is about to lay so much stress.

This site's exposition

Gad, David's seer, saying

on 1 Chronicles 21:9-13

Chronicles names Gad's office before the word arrives, David's seer, and then supplies a detail Samuel's account lacks: the third alternative is spelled out in full, three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Albert Barnes notes the angel is named here and nowhere in Samuel's version of the same offer, preparing the reader for the appearance the chapter builds toward at verse sixteen. The years of famine differ between the books, three here against seven in 2 Samuel 24:13, a divergence the commentators record without resolving. David still chooses to fall into the hand of the Lord rather than the hand of man, the same trust Samuel records, because his mercies are great.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Three days - the pestilence in the land - In 2Sa 24:13 (note), seven years of famine are mentioned.

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

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

33 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.

  • אִם־whether

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • שָׁל֨וֹשׁthree

    shalooshH7969 →432 times

  • שָׁנִ֜יםyears

    shanimH8141 →877 times

  • רָעָ֗בfamine

    raavH7458 →

  • וְאִם־and or

    veim-H518 →1069 times

  • שְׁלֹשָׁ֨הthree

    sheloshahH7969 →432 times

  • חֳדָשִׁ֜יםmonths

    chodashimH2320 →284 times

  • נִסְפֶּ֥הbeing swept away

    nispehH5595 →

  • מִפְּנֵי־from before

    mipenei-H6440 →2123 times

  • צָרֶיךָ֮opponents your

    tzareikhaH6862 →109 times

  • וְחֶ֣רֶבand [the] sword of

    vecherevH2719 →413 times

  • אוֹיְבֶ֣ךָ׀enemies your

    ʾoyvekhaH341 →282 times

  • לְמַשֶּׂגֶת֒to overtaking [you]

    lemasegetH5381 →

  • וְאִם־and or

    veim-H518 →1069 times

  • שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁתthree

    sheloshetH7969 →432 times

  • יָ֠מִיםdays

    yamimH3117 →2304 times

  • חֶ֣רֶב[the] sword of

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • יְהוָ֤הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • וְדֶ֙בֶר֙and pestilence

    vedeverH1698 →

  • בָּאָ֔רֶץin the land

    baaretzH776 →2504 times

  • וּמַלְאַ֣ךְand [the] angel of

    umalakhH4397 →213 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • מַשְׁחִ֖יתdestroying

    mashchitH7843 →146 times

  • בְּכָל־in all

    bekholH3605 →5413 times

  • גְּב֣וּל[the] territory of

    gevulH1366 →240 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • וְעַתָּ֣הand therefore

    veatahH6258 →433 times

  • רְאֵ֔הconsider

    reehH7200 →1300 times

  • מָֽה־what?

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • אָשִׁ֥יבwill I bring back

    ʾashivH7725 →1056 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • שֹׁלְחִ֖י[the] [one who] sent me

    sholechiH7971 →845 times

  • דָּבָֽר׃ פword

    davarH1697 →1440 times

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

Related verses

18 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 24:13So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”4 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 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 worksIsaiah 37:36Then 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 works2 Samuel 21:1During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”2 worksDeuteronomy 28:25The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.2 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Luke 4:25But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.2 worksLeviticus 26:25–29And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.2 worksDeuteronomy 28:22The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.2 worksIsaiah 66:16For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.2 worksActs 12:23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.2 worksDeuteronomy 28:35The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.2 worksExodus 12:23When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.2 worksLeviticus 26:10You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.2 worksLeviticus 26:36–37As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.2 worksEzekiel 14:19–21Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath upon it through bloodshed, cutting off from it both man and beast,2 worksDeuteronomy 28:27The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.2 works2 Kings 8:1Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.”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

    Luke 4:25

    But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 17:1

      Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in…

    • James 5:17

      Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

    • Isaiah 55:8

      “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 28:25

    The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 23:46

      This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder.

    • Isaiah 30:17

      A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a…

    • Deuteronomy 28:7

      The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you in one direction but flee from you in seven.

    • Jeremiah 24:9

      I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 21:1

    During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul…

    it leads to

    • Joshua 7:11–12

      Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About 1 Chronicles

Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Cedars Are Cut Down for the Jerusalem Temple, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
1 Chronicles: the study guide →Read 1 Chronicles 21 →

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 and Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Chronicles 21 →