Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 21:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan.
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 21:1–21:6
Records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan. Read 1 Chronicles 21:2 within 21:1–21:6. The complete unit records: 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.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The only major narrated Davidic sin in Chronicles begins a movement that will identify the temple site, without protecting David from responsibility. In this exact position, the line beginning “And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number…” records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan.
Follow the Context
- 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.
- The only major narrated Davidic sin in Chronicles begins a movement that will identify the temple site, without protecting David from responsibility.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number…”
In plain language: Records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan.
The line beginning “And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number…” records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan.
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
The passage does not teach that counting people is always sinful, identify Satan exhaustively, excuse David as a passive victim, or make military numbers a measure of human value.
What Remains True
Records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan. 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 records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan, keep it inside 21:1–21:6, 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 21:2 records David commanding Joab and the rulers to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan. Use 21:1–21:6, paraphrase “And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number…,” 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 21:1–21:6 — An adversary provokes David's disputed censusSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
1 Chronicles 21:2 remains within this thought-unit limit: The unarticulated Hebrew satan may mean an adversary or the proper name Satan; 2 Samuel 24 attributes incitement differently, totals differ, and 4QSam-a and Greek evidence complicate the textual history.
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 21:1–21:6, 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 21:1–21:6
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 21:1–21:6, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗