Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 21:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13And 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands.
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 21:7–21:13
Places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands. Read 1 Chronicles 21:13 within 21:7–21:13. The complete unit records: 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
The narrative moves quickly from royal command to consequences borne by the population, with David choosing within an already severe set of outcomes. In this exact position, the line beginning “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall…” places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands.
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.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall…”
In plain language: Places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands.
The line beginning “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall…” places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands.
Why it matters: The wording carries a material literary, historical, temple, royal-power, violence, ethnic, illness, gender, exile, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
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
Places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands. This concrete detail supports a bounded truth: Leadership is accountable for truth, justice, lives, land, and labor; remembered calling or success does not erase harm or remove correction.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because this verse places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands, keep it inside 21:7–21:13, compare its Samuel-Kings relationship honestly, protect affected people from coercion or stigma, and apply only the accountable principle the complete unit supports.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 21:13 places David's distress within trust in divine mercy rather than human hands. Use 21:7–21:13, paraphrase “And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall…,” 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 21:7–21:13 — David confesses and chooses among collective judgmentsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
1 Chronicles 21:13 remains within this thought-unit limit: 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 21:7–21:13, 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 21:7–21:13
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 21:7–21:13, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗