1 Chronicles 21-22
1599 Geneva Bible
21 1 David causeth the people to be numbered, 14 and there dieth seventy thousand men of the pestilence.
1 And [a]Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
2 Therefore David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people, Go, and number Israel from [b]Beersheba even to Dan, and bring it to me, that I may know the number of them.
3 And Joab answered, The Lord increased his people an hundred times so many as they be, O my lord the king: are they not all my lord’s servants? wherefore doeth my lord require this thing? why should he be a cause of [c]trespass to Israel?
4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. And Joab departed and went through all Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gave the number and sum of the people unto David: and all Israel were [d]eleven hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was [e]four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.
6 But the Levites and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the King’s word was abominable to Joab.
7 ¶ And God was displeased with this thing: therefore he smote Israel.
8 Then David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, remove the iniquity of thy servant: for I have done very foolishly.
9 And the Lord spake unto Gad David’s [f]Seer, saying,
10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Take to thee,
12 Either three years famine, or three months to be destroyed before thine adversaries, and the sword of thine enemies [g]to take thee, or else the sword of the Lord and pestilence in the land three days, that the Angel of the Lord may destroy throughout all the coasts of Israel: now therefore advise thee, what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a wonderful strait, let me now fall into the hand of the Lord: for his mercies are exceedingly great, and let me not fall into the hand of man.
14 So the Lord sent a pestilence in Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 ¶ And God sent the Angel into Jerusalem to destroy it. And [h]as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and [i]repented of the evil, and said to the Angel that destroyed, It is now enough, let thine hand cease. Then the Angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of [j]Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the Angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand and stretched out toward Jerusalem. Then David and the Elders of Israel which were clothed in sack, fell upon their faces.
17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded to number the people? It is even I that have sinned and have committed evil, but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let thine hand be on me and on my father’s house, and not on [k]thy people for their destruction.
18 ¶ 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 threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 So David went up according to the saying of Gad, which he had spoken in the Name of the Lord.
20 And Ornan turned about and saw the Angel, and his four sons that were with him, [l]hid themselves, and Ornan threshed wheat.
21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
22 And David said to Ornan, Give me the place of thy threshing floor, that I may build an [m]altar therein unto the Lord: give it me for sufficient money, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
23 Then Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which seemeth him good: lo, I give thee bullocks for burnt offerings, and threshing instruments for wood, and wheat for meat offering, I give it all.
24 And King David said to Ornan, Not so: but I will buy it for sufficient [n]money: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.
25 So David gave to Ornan for that place [o]six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
26 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings, and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord, and he [p]answered him by fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.
27 And when the Lord had spoken to the Angel, he put up his sword again into his sheath.
28 At that time when David saw that the Lord had heard him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.
29 (But the Tabernacle of the Lord which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.
30 And David could not go before it to ask counsel at God: for he was afraid of the sword of the Angel of the Lord.)
22 2 David prepareth things necessary for the building of the Temple. 6 He commandeth his son Solomon to build the Temple of the Lord, which thing he himself was forbidden to do. 9 Under the figure of Solomon Christ is promised.
1 And David said, This is the [q]house of the Lord God, and this is the altar for the burnt offering of Israel.
2 And David commanded to gather together the [r]strangers that were in the land of Israel, and he set masons to hew and polish stones to build the house of God.
3 David also prepared [s]much iron for the nails of the doors and of the gates, and for the joinings, and abundance of brass passing weight,
4 And cedar trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.
5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and we must build an house for the Lord, magnifical, excellent and of great fame and dignity throughout all countries: I will therefore now prepare for him. So David prepared very much before his death.
6 Then he called Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the Lord God of Israel.
7 And David said to Solomon, (A)My son, I purposed with myself to build an house to the Name of the Lord my God,
8 But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, (B)[t]Thou hast shed much blood, and hast made great battles: thou shalt not build an house unto my name: for thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
9 Behold, a son is born to thee, which shall be a man of rest, for I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: therefore his name is Solomon: and I will send peace and quietness upon Israel in his days.
10 (C)He shall build an house for my Name, and he shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom upon Israel forever.
11 Now therefore my son, the Lord shall be with thee, and thou shalt [u]prosper, and thou shalt build an house to the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken of thee.
12 Only the Lord give thee [v]wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge over Israel, even to keep the Law of the Lord thy God.
13 Then thou shalt prosper, if thou take heed to observe the statutes and the judgments which the Lord commanded Moses for Israel: be strong and of good courage: fear not, neither be afraid.
14 For behold, according to my [w]poverty have I prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and of iron passing weight: for there was abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone, and thou mayest provide more thereto.
15 Moreover thou hast workmen with thee enough, [x]hewers of stone, and workmen of timber, and all men expert in every work.
16 Of gold, of silver, and of brass, and of iron there is no number: [y]Up therefore, and be doing, and the Lord will be with thee.
17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,
18 Is not the Lord your God with you, and hath given you rest on every side? for he hath given the [z]inhabitants of the land into mine hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord, and before his people.
19 Now set [aa]your hearts and your souls to seek the Lord your God, and arise, and build the Sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God into the house built for the Name of the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 21:1 He tempted David, in setting before his eyes his excellency and glory, his power and victories, read 2 Sam. 24:1.
- 1 Chronicles 21:2 That is, from South to North.
- 1 Chronicles 21:3 It was a thing indifferent and usual to number the people, but because he did it of an ambitious mind, as though his strength stood in his people, God punished him.
- 1 Chronicles 21:5 Joab partly for grief, and partly through negligence, gathered not the whole sum as it is here declared.
- 1 Chronicles 21:5 In Samuel is mention of thirty thousand more, which was either by joining to them some of the Benjamites which were mixed with Judah, or as the Hebrews write, here the chief and princes are left out.
- 1 Chronicles 21:9 Or, Prophet.
- 1 Chronicles 21:12 Or, smite thee.
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Read 2 Sam. 24:16.
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 When God draweth back his plagues, he seemeth to repent, read Gen. 6:6.
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Or, Araunah.
- 1 Chronicles 21:17 Thus he both showeth a true repentance and a fatherly care toward his people, which desireth God to spare them, and to punish him and his.
- 1 Chronicles 21:20 If man hide himself at the sight of an Angel which is a creature, how much as a sinner able to appear before the face of God?
- 1 Chronicles 21:22 Thus he did by the commandment of God, as verse 18, for else it had been abominable, except he had either God’s word, or revelation.
- 1 Chronicles 21:24 That is, as much as it is worth: for having enough of his own, and yet to have taken of another man’s goods to offer unto the Lord, it had been theft and not acceptable to God.
- 1 Chronicles 21:25 Read 2 Sam. 24:24.
- 1 Chronicles 21:26 God declared that he heard his request, in that he sent down fire from heaven, for else they might use no fire in sacrifice, but of that which was reserved still upon the altar, Lev. 6:13, and came down from heaven, Lev. 9:24, as appeared by the punishment of Nadab and Abihu, Lev. 10:1.
- 1 Chronicles 22:1 That is, the place wherein he will be worshipped.
- 1 Chronicles 22:2 Meaning, cunning men of other nations which dwelt among the Jews.
- 1 Chronicles 22:3 To wit, which weighed fifty shekels of gold, 2 Chron. 3:9.
- 1 Chronicles 22:8 This declareth how greatly God detesteth the shedding of blood, seeing David for this cause is stayed to build the Temple of the Lord, albeit he enterprised no war, but by God’s commandment and against his enemies.
- 1 Chronicles 22:11 He showeth that there can be no prosperity, but when the Lord is with us.
- 1 Chronicles 22:12 These are only the means whereby Kings govern their subjects aright, and whereby the Realms do prosper and flourish.
- 1 Chronicles 22:14 For David was poor in respect of Solomon.
- 1 Chronicles 22:15 Or, masons and carpenters.
- 1 Chronicles 22:16 That is, go about it quickly.
- 1 Chronicles 22:18 The nations round about.
- 1 Chronicles 22:19 For else he knew that God would plague them, and not prosper their labor, except they sought with all their hearts to set forth his glory.
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