1 Chronicles 17:16–27, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Chronicles 17:16–27
David responds with humility and petition
Who am I, O LORD God?
David the king comes and sits before the LORD and says, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? Yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree.
What can David speak more to thee for the honor of thy servant? Thou knowest thy servant. O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness. There is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all we have heard with our ears.
Israel's redemption is recited, then the house is asked for
What one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people? Israel is thy people for ever, and thou, LORD, art become their God.
Therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever; for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever. The prayer receives promise as gift and asks that God's own word stand. Humility here does not erase David's power, future harms, or victims. It does not hand a modern dynasty a divine guarantee. Petition is not a technique for locking God into a family brand.
How this should shape us
Answer large promises with honesty about who you are, not with self-made greatness. Do not baptize your household, party, or nation as Israel in this prayer, and do not let piety hide the harm a powerful petitioner can still do.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Chronicles 17:16–27 in your own words. Include its movement, placement in Chronicles, one Samuel-Kings comparison, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one modern use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The prayer parallels 2 Samuel 7 with verbal differences; its liturgical shape and exact historical wording remain open questions.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
1 Chronicles 17:16–27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 17:16–27
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 17:16–27, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of the Chronicler's God, worship, Israel, kingship, retribution, and hope, used only within the stated access limit.
Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles (2009), officially exposed introduction pp. 1–8, worship pp. 156–208, Israel pp. 209–307, kingship pp. 308–383, and redemption pp. 384–394; detailed chapter bodies were not available
Supports: Only the exposed late-Persian and alternative-history framing plus the fact of deliberate rewriting; not uninspected detailed claims.
Levin, 'The Chronicler's Rewriting of the History of Israel: Why and How?' (2020), pp. 173–188; official opening, XML metadata, and chapter record
Supports: Complete article on genealogical inclusion and exclusion, Davidic legitimation, temple personnel, worship ordering, and discourse of power.
Geyser-Fouché, HTS 79.1 (2023), article 8011, pp. 1–13, especially pp. 3–11
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 17:16–27, 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 17:16–27
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 17:16–27, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗modern scholarly monograph limited access
The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought
Sara Japhet
Eisenbrauns / Penn State University Press, English edition 1989; reprint 2009
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of the Chronicler's God, worship, Israel, kingship, retribution, and hope, used only within the stated access limit.
Exact location: Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles (2009), officially exposed introduction pp. 1–8, worship pp. 156–208, Israel pp. 209–307, kingship pp. 308–383, and redemption pp. 384–394; detailed chapter bodies were not available
Open source ↗peer reviewed scholarly book chapter limited access
The Chronicler's Rewriting of the History of Israel: Why and How?
Yigal Levin
Writing and Rewriting History in Ancient Israel and Near Eastern Cultures, Mohr Siebeck, 2020
Supports: Only the exposed late-Persian and alternative-history framing plus the fact of deliberate rewriting; not uninspected detailed claims.
Exact location: Levin, 'The Chronicler's Rewriting of the History of Israel: Why and How?' (2020), pp. 173–188; official opening, XML metadata, and chapter record
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
1 and 2 Chronicles as a Discourse of Power
Ananda Geyser-Fouche
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 79(1), article 8011, pp. 1-13, 2023
Supports: Complete article on genealogical inclusion and exclusion, Davidic legitimation, temple personnel, worship ordering, and discourse of power.
Exact location: Geyser-Fouché, HTS 79.1 (2023), article 8011, pp. 1–13, especially pp. 3–11
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility: Chronicles in Its Ancient Context
Isaac Kalimi
Poznan Theological Studies repository edition, pp. 7-25, 2019 repository edition
Supports: Case-sensitive distinction between events and literary presentation in ancient historiography, including credibility limits and rhetorical shaping.
Exact location: Kalimi, 'History, Historiography, Historical Evaluation and Credibility,' repository PDF pp. 7–25
Open source ↗