Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 14:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition: “And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “A second inquiry produces a different battle plan.”
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 14:13–17
Read 1 Chronicles 14:17 with 14:13–17. The selected wording supplies one closing in the thought unit with its stated result or transition; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: When Philistines return, David again asks, receives a flanking instruction keyed to sound in trees, obeys, and gains fame.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “A second inquiry produces a different battle plan,” 1 Chronicles 14:17 closes the thought unit with its stated result or transition through the wording “And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: Repeated threat receives fresh discernment rather than automatic reuse of the previous successful method. 1 Chronicles 14:8–12 has just established this prior movement: David seeks divine direction, defeats the Philistines at Baal-perazim, and orders abandoned gods burned. Together those details explain why “A second inquiry produces a different battle plan” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 1 Chronicles 14:13–17 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 14:13–17 forms the complete movement “A second inquiry produces a different battle plan”: When Philistines return, David again asks, receives a flanking instruction keyed to sound in trees, obeys, and gains fame.
Verse 13. 13 And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley.
Verse 14. 14 Therefore David enquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.
Verse 15. 15 And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.
Verse 16. 16 David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer.
Verse 17. 17 And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all nations.
Follow the Context
- When Philistines return, David again asks, receives a flanking instruction keyed to sound in trees, obeys, and gains fame.
- Repeated threat receives fresh discernment rather than automatic reuse of the previous successful method.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Chronicles 14:17 does not permit the wording “And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The sound in the trees does not authorize omens, battlefield mysticism, or leaders claiming uncheckable divine tactics today.
What Remains True
Accounts of conflict must name agents, victims, land, loss, and literary judgment without converting ancient war into a modern command or ethnic hostility. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: When Philistines return, David again asks, receives a flanking instruction keyed to sound in trees, obeys, and gains fame. In 1 Chronicles 14:17, the concrete line “And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him….” When reading conflict or making public decisions, distinguish description from command, count human cost, protect noncombatants, reject ethnic generalization, and pursue accountable noncoercive action. This response follows from the unit's own movement: When Philistines return, David again asks, receives a flanking instruction keyed to sound in trees, obeys, and gains fame.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 14:17 closes with David's fame and divinely produced fear among nations. Use 14:13–17, paraphrase “And the fame of David went out into all lands; and the LORD brought the fear of him…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Chronicles 14:13–17 — A second inquiry produces a different battle planSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The narrative's sound and divine advance are explicit literary claims; physical mechanism, troop movements, and precise geography remain uncertain.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 1 Chronicles 14:13–17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 14:13–17
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 1 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 14:13–17, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗