Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 21:10 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 10. 10Go 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.
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: “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “David confesses and chooses among collective judgments.”
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 21:7–13
Read 1 Chronicles 21:10 with 21:7–13. 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: God judges the census, David confesses foolish sin, Gad offers famine, defeat, or pestilence, and David appeals to divine mercy rather than human hands.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “David confesses and chooses among collective judgments,” 1 Chronicles 21:10 advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence through the wording “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The narrative moves quickly from royal command to consequences borne by the population, with David choosing within an already severe set of outcomes. 1 Chronicles 21:1–6 has just established this prior movement: Satan or an adversary stands against Israel, David orders a military census over Joab's objection, large totals are returned, and Levi and Benjamin remain uncounted. Together those details explain why “David confesses and chooses among collective judgments” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 1 Chronicles 21:7–13 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 21:7–13 forms the complete movement “David confesses and chooses among collective judgments”: God judges the census, David confesses foolish sin, Gad offers famine, defeat, or pestilence, and David appeals to divine mercy rather than human hands.
Verse 7. 7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.
Verse 8. 8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
Verse 9. 9 And the LORD spake unto Gad, David’s seer, saying,
Verse 10. 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.
Verse 11. 11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee
Verse 12. 12 Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
Verse 13. 13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
Follow the Context
- God judges the census, David confesses foolish sin, Gad offers famine, defeat, or pestilence, and David appeals to divine mercy rather than human hands.
- The narrative moves quickly from royal command to consequences borne by the population, with David choosing within an already severe set of outcomes.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Chronicles 21:10 does not permit the wording “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. David's confession does not erase harmed people, make collective punishment easy, justify leaders choosing others' suffering, or promise that repentance removes consequences.
What Remains True
Leadership is accountable for truth, justice, lives, land, and labor; remembered calling or success does not erase harm or remove correction. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: God judges the census, David confesses foolish sin, Gad offers famine, defeat, or pestilence, and David appeals to divine mercy rather than human hands. In 1 Chronicles 21:10, the concrete line “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of….” In leadership decisions, publish the evidence, hear affected people, separate office from immunity, and build consent, review, correction, and remedy into the work. This response follows from the unit's own movement: God judges the census, David confesses foolish sin, Gad offers famine, defeat, or pestilence, and David appeals to divine mercy rather than human hands.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 21:10 offers David three judicial alternatives from which he must choose. Use 21:7–13, paraphrase “Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of…,” 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 21:7–13 — David confesses and chooses among collective judgmentsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Chronicles has three years of famine while the Masoretic text of 2 Samuel 24 has seven and Greek Samuel has three; the difference must not be silently changed.
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 21:7–13, 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 21:7–13
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 21:7–13, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗