Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Samuel 24:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The LORD relents as the destroying angel reaches Jerusalem; Chronicles expands the scene, and neither account removes the dead from view.
Read It With
- 2 Samuel 24:15–17
Read 2 Samuel 24:16 with 24:15–17. The wording “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of…” supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: The pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents, and David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Plague Kills Seventy Thousand before Relenting,” 2 Samuel 24:16 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The plague is the public consequence toward which the incitement, census, objection, confession, and offered judgments have moved. Divine relenting and David's intercession begin inside that consequence rather than reversing away from it.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: The pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents.
- Developing movement or outcome: David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of…”
In plain language: The LORD relents as the destroying angel reaches Jerusalem; Chronicles expands the scene, and neither account removes the dead from view.
2 Samuel 24:16 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence by recording “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of….” This line matters because the LORD relents as the destroying angel reaches Jerusalem; Chronicles expands the scene, and neither account removes the dead from view.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material textual, literary, historical, royal-power, violence, consent, trauma, covenant, reception, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Samuel 24:16 does not permit the wording “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. This narrative line does not make ordinary people expendable for a ruler's decision, turn mass death into scenery, or supply a reusable formula for identifying the cause of disaster.
What Remains True
Power remains accountable for the people it exposes, takes, silences, injures, or kills; truthful memory keeps their bodies, testimony, agency, and cost visible. In this unit, that truth is tested by the concrete movement: The pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents, and David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep. In 2 Samuel 24:16, the concrete line “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of….” When authority exposes people to violence, preserve evidence, protect those at risk, require independent lawful review, and refuse retaliation, euphemism, collective blame, or celebration of the harm. This response follows from the unit's own pattern—The pestilence kills seventy thousand, the angel reaches Jerusalem, the LORD relents, and David asks that judgment fall on him and his house rather than the people he calls sheep.
Teach It Back
Explain 2 Samuel 24:16's role in 24:15–17. Paraphrase “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of…”, name the ancient royal or household horizon, state one material uncertainty, keep one vulnerable or affected person visible, and identify one conclusion the 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 2 Samuel 24:15–17 — Plague Kills Seventy Thousand before RelentingSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
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 reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Samuel 24:15-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 24:15-17
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Samuel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 582–583, translation and all translator notes attached to 24:15-17
Open source ↗