Verse Lens · Context pointer
1 Chronicles 21:4 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 4. 4Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
This verse advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence: “Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “An adversary provokes David's disputed census.”
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 21:1–6
Read 1 Chronicles 21:4 with 21:1–6. 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: 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 It Needs Context
1 Chronicles 21:4 depends on 21:1–6; isolating “Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to…” would detach a supporting name, action, quotation, number, object, or transition from “An adversary provokes David's disputed census.”
Read 1 Chronicles 21:1–6 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 21:1–6 forms the complete movement “An adversary provokes David's disputed census”: 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.
Verse 1. 1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
Verse 2. 2 And 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.
Verse 3. 3 And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?
Verse 4. 4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
Verse 5. 5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.
Verse 6. 6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Chronicles 21:1–6 — An adversary provokes David's disputed censusSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
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 21:1–6, 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 21:1–6
Open source ↗