Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 21:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first name, action, or speech: “So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Seventy thousand die and David asks the sword to turn toward his house.”
Seventy thousand die, and the angel stops at a threshing floor
This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Chronicles 21:14–17. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 21:14–17
Read 1 Chronicles 21:14 with 21:14–17. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first name, action, or speech; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: Pestilence kills many, the destroying angel stops at Ornan's threshing floor, David and elders mourn, and David names himself as the sinner while calling the people sheep.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Seventy thousand die and David asks the sword to turn toward his house,” 1 Chronicles 21:14 opens the thought unit and establishes its first name, action, or speech through the wording “So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The narrative centers victims and delayed royal responsibility before the altar instruction. 1 Chronicles 21:7–13 has just established this prior 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. Together those details explain why “Seventy thousand die and David asks the sword to turn toward his house” belongs here rather than merely following a database record.
Read 1 Chronicles 21:14–17 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 21:14–17 forms the complete movement “Seventy thousand die and David asks the sword to turn toward his house”: Pestilence kills many, the destroying angel stops at Ornan's threshing floor, David and elders mourn, and David names himself as the sinner while calling the people sheep.
Verse 14. 14 So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
Verse 15. 15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was 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. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Verse 16. 16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
Verse 17. 17 And David said 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.
Follow the Context
- Pestilence kills many, the destroying angel stops at Ornan's threshing floor, David and elders mourn, and David names himself as the sinner while calling the people sheep.
- The narrative centers victims and delayed royal responsibility before the altar instruction.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Chronicles 21:14 does not permit the wording “So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The plague does not justify blaming victims, treating subjects as expendable sheep, claiming epidemics reveal particular sins, or replacing public health and care with speculation.
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: Pestilence kills many, the destroying angel stops at Ornan's threshing floor, David and elders mourn, and David names himself as the sinner while calling the people sheep. In 1 Chronicles 21:14, the concrete line “So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 21:14 reports the pestilence and the death of seventy thousand Israelites. Use 21:14–17, paraphrase “So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men,” 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
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 1 Chronicles 21:14–17 — Seventy thousand die and David asks the sword to turn toward his houseSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
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.
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 21:14–17, 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 ↗