Verse Lens · Expanded explanation

1 Chronicles 16:21 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 21. He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes,

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence: “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “The first psalm movement remembers covenant and vulnerable ancestors.”

Read It With

  • 1 Chronicles 16:7–22

Read 1 Chronicles 16:21 with 16:7–22. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: David entrusts Asaph's group with a psalm calling for thanks, seeking, memory, covenant, land promise, and protection when the ancestors were few and mobile.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “The first psalm movement remembers covenant and vulnerable ancestors,” 1 Chronicles 16:21 advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence through the wording “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The song interprets the ark celebration through remembered dependence rather than royal conquest alone. 1 Chronicles 16:4–6 has just established this prior movement: David appoints named Levites with instruments and priests with trumpets for continual ministry before the ark. Together those details explain why “The first psalm movement remembers covenant and vulnerable ancestors” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.

Read 1 Chronicles 16:7–22 together

Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 16:7–22 forms the complete movement “The first psalm movement remembers covenant and vulnerable ancestors”: David entrusts Asaph's group with a psalm calling for thanks, seeking, memory, covenant, land promise, and protection when the ancestors were few and mobile.

Verse 7. Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.

Verse 8. Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

Verse 9. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.

Verse 10. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.

Verse 11. Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

Verse 12. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

Verse 13. O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Verse 14. He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

Verse 15. Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;

Verse 16. Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac;

Verse 17. And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

Verse 18. Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;

Verse 19. When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it.

Verse 20. And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people;

Verse 21. He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes,

Verse 22. Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Follow the Context

  1. David entrusts Asaph's group with a psalm calling for thanks, seeking, memory, covenant, land promise, and protection when the ancestors were few and mobile.
  2. The song interprets the ark celebration through remembered dependence rather than royal conquest alone.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

1 Chronicles 16:21 does not permit the wording “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The land and anointed language do not authorize modern territorial entitlement, attacking critics, leader immunity, or treating any present nation as ancient covenant Israel.

What Remains True

Prayer responds to God within the passage's covenantal setting; it is not a technique for control, prosperity, immunity, or coercion. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: David entrusts Asaph's group with a psalm calling for thanks, seeking, memory, covenant, land promise, and protection when the ancestors were few and mobile. In 1 Chronicles 16:21, the concrete line “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

How It Can Shape Life

  • The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes.” Pray honestly while also using evidence, medicine, safeguarding, restitution, financial transparency, and other responsible means appropriate to the need. This response follows from the unit's own movement: David entrusts Asaph's group with a psalm calling for thanks, seeking, memory, covenant, land promise, and protection when the ancestors were few and mobile.

Teach It Back

Explain why 1 Chronicles 16:21 credits God with protecting them and rebuking kings. Use 16:7–22, paraphrase “He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes,” 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 16:7–22 — The first psalm movement remembers covenant and vulnerable ancestors
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

Verses 8-22 closely parallel Psalm 105:1-15 with contextual adaptations; literary reuse is clear, while direction, date, and exact performance history remain debated.

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 16:7–22, 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 16:7–22

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 16:7–22, verse-attached translation and translator notes

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