1 Chronicles 21:14–17, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Chronicles 21:14–17
Seventy thousand die and David asks the sword to turn toward his house
Seventy thousand die, and the angel stops at a threshing floor
So the LORD sends pestilence upon Israel, and there fall of Israel seventy thousand men. The number is the center of the unit, not scenery for the king's feelings. Do not hide the dead behind theology, an adversary, or a later altar.
God sends an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it. As he is destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. The angel of the LORD stands by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. David and the elders of Israel, who are clothed in sackcloth, fall on their faces.
David asks that the sword turn toward his house
David says unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.
The plea is late and true as far as it goes: royal command, popular cost. Calling the people sheep names unequal suffering. It does not raise the seventy thousand. The angelic vision, divine relenting, and the relation to 2 Samuel and 4QSam-a are complex; none of that complexity may erase mass death. Epidemics here are not a chart for diagnosing a city's secret sins, and subjects are not expendable flocks.
How this should shape us
When a leader's decision harms a population, stop minimizing, count the dead, accept independent review, and turn protection toward the public. Do not replace care with speculation about why people died, and do not let remorse become a substitute for their lives.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Chronicles 21:14–17 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 number dead, angelic vision, divine relenting, and relation to 2 Samuel and 4QSam-a are textually and historically complex; theological narration must not erase mass death.
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 21:14–17, 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 21:14–17
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 21:14–17, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Supports: Complete thesis comparison of witnesses, narrative structure, census differences, Ornan's site, David's responsibility, and the episode's effect on Davidic memory.
Shaffo, The Purpose of the Census Narrative in Chronicles (2022), method pp. 1–11; 2 Samuel 24 pp. 12–31; 1 Chronicles 21–22:1 pp. 33–78; legacy pp. 110–126
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: 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
Supports: Complete Greek-witness translation comparison and introductory controls, used where the Septuagint materially differs without treating a translation as the underlying Greek text.
NETS, 1 Supplements (2009), translator introduction pp. 342–343 and 1 Supplements 21:14–17 within pp. 344–368
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 21:14–17, 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 21:14–17
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 21:14–17, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗open access masters thesis
The Purpose of the Census Narrative in Chronicles and Its Impact on David's Legacy
Peter Shaffo
Department of Bible, Bar-Ilan University, 2022
Supports: Complete thesis comparison of witnesses, narrative structure, census differences, Ornan's site, David's responsibility, and the episode's effect on Davidic memory.
Exact location: Shaffo, The Purpose of the Census Narrative in Chronicles (2022), method pp. 1–11; 2 Samuel 24 pp. 12–31; 1 Chronicles 21–22:1 pp. 33–78; legacy pp. 110–126
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
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 ↗septuagint translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: 1 Supplements
C. E. V. Nixon
Oxford University Press; International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2009
Supports: Complete Greek-witness translation comparison and introductory controls, used where the Septuagint materially differs without treating a translation as the underlying Greek text.
Exact location: NETS, 1 Supplements (2009), translator introduction pp. 342–343 and 1 Supplements 21:14–17 within pp. 344–368
Open source ↗