When God helped the Levites who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.
Parallel Translations
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When God helped the Levites who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.
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And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams.
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And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to 1 Chronicles 15:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 23:29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and we have given you of your own.
- Job 42:8 Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”
- Psalms 66:13-15 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you, which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats.
- Numbers 23:1-4 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.” Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height. God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”
- Numbers 29:32 “ ‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;
- 1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.”
- 2 Samuel 6:13 When those who bore Yahweh’s ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
- Ezekiel 45:23 The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Yahweh, seven bulls and seven rams without defect daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.
- Acts 26:22 Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,
- 2 Corinthians 2:16 to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
- 2 Corinthians 3:5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Besides the bullock and the fat beast which David…
Besides the bullock and the fat beast which David offered at every sixth pace, 2 Sam. 6:13.
That is, gave them strength to execute their office.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ch 15:26 And it came to pass, when God…
1Ch 15:26 And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams.
Ver. 26. When God helped the Levites that bare the ark.] So helped them, say the Rabbis, that they felt not any weight thereof upon their shoulders. Rather God helped there, that is, he not only spared them - Uzzah met not with such a mercy - but enabled them and relieved them. Will he not do as much for his faithful ministers
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That they offered seven bullocks,] viz., At every sixth pace, {2Sa 6:13} because Uzzah perished when he had gone but six paces, say some. Every man that seeth another stricken, and himseff spared, is to offer sacrifice, yea, to keep a passover for himself.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain When God helped the Levites; either,
When God helped the Levites; either,
1. By giving them strength to carry their burden; or rather,
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2. By encouraging them in their work with some comfortable sign of his presence with them, and approbation of their work and manner of carrying the ark: when they saw that he did not cut off any of the persons employed, as he had done before, but spared and favoured them; which they perceived when they had gone six paces, as appears by 2Sa 6:13.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And David was clothed with a robe of fine…
And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen,.... For though a king, he, being among the singers, was clothed as they; for so it follows:
and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song; or of those that bore the burden, the ark, as the Targum:
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with the singers; all were clothed in robes of fine linen:
David also had upon him an ephod of linen; which he had besides his linen robe, and was over it; and being a shorter and tighter garment, it bound the other closer to him; though some think this is explanative of the former, and designs the same, and is what others, besides priests, were, on occasion, allowed to wear, see Sa1 2:18.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Helped - Encouraging them in their work with some…
Helped - Encouraging them in their work with some comfortable sign of his presence with them. In all our religious exercises, we must derive help from heaven. God's ministers that bare the vessels of the Lord, have special need of divine help in their ministrations, that God may be glorified thereby, and the people edified.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 26. God helped the Levites] When they saw…
Verse 26. God helped the Levites] When they saw that God had made no breach among them, as he had in the case of Uzza, in gratitude for their preservation, and his acceptance of their labour, they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ch 15:26. God helped the Levites — Not only…
1Ch 15:26. God helped the Levites — Not only preserved them from committing any error, so that no plague was inflicted upon them as had happened to Uzza, but gave them strength to bear their burden, and encouraged them in their work with some comfortable sign of his presence with them, and approbation of them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain When God helped the Levites - The death of…
When God helped the Levites - The death of Uzza had deeply impressed both David and the Levites, and it was doubted whether God would allow the ark to be moved anymore. Sacrificial animals were held ready; and when it appeared - by the movement of the ark six paces 2Sa 6:13, without any manifestation of the divine displeasure - that God was not opposing but rather helping the Levites in their task, the victims were at once offered.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Rams, in thanksgiving, that they had not been treated…
Rams, in thanksgiving, that they had not been treated like Oza. (Calmet) --- The Jews pretend that the ark was no burden to the Levites. (Tirinus) --- Love makes all duties easy. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain it came to pass, &c.--(See on Sa2 6:13-23).
it came to pass, &c.--(See on Sa2 6:13-23).
they offered seven bullocks and seven rams--The Levites seem to have entered on this duty with fear and trembling; and finding that they might advance without any such indications of divine wrath as Uzza had experienced (Ch1 13:10), they offered an ox and a fatted sheep immediately after starting (Sa2 6:13), and seven bullocks and seven rams--a perfect sacrifice, at the close of the procession (Ch1 16:1). It is probable that preparations had been made for the offering of similar sacrifices at regular intervals along the way.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 26. When God helped the Levites — By enabling…
26. When God helped the Levites — By enabling them to remove the ark six paces without injury to any one. Comp. 2Sa_6:13. The death of Uzzah had inspired a fear that Jehovah might not again allow them to remove the ark at all, but as soon as this fear appears to be groundless they offer sacrifice to God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 26. when God helped the Levites] In 2Sa_6:13, when…
26. when God helped the Levites] In 2Sa_6:13, when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces. The Chronicler interprets the safe start as a sign of Divine assistance.
seven bullocks and seven rams] In Sam. an ox and a fatling (so R.V., not, oxen and fatlings as A.V.). The smaller sacrifice of Samuel is represented as the king’s own offering, the larger sacrifice of Chron. as that of the king and his elders combined.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (26) When God helped the Levites that bare the…
(26) When God helped the Levites that bare the ark.—Comp. 2Sa_6:13, “And it was so, that when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings” (sing. collect.). God had been adverse to those who conducted the Ark on the former occasion (1Ch_13:9), as was inferred from the sudden death of Uzza. Now, when the Levites had undertaken the work in due order, and no harm had befallen, it was understood that the Divine goodwill was with the enterprise. That they had borne the holy Ark six paces without any sign of wrath was enough to call forth the grateful offerings of hearts relieved from a dread which only ceased to haunt them when the event proved it to be groundless. Our text, more exact than Samuel, gives the number and kind of the victims then sacrificed. Others refer the two accounts to different sacrifices, taking Samuel to mean that at every six paces a bullock and a fat sheep were slain by priests stationed all along the course, while they suppose our text to refer to a final sacrifice, offered when the Ark had reached its destination. This solution of the difficulty appears incredible, especially as regards the supposition of priests not mentioned in the narrative. Another view understands our text in this sense, but makes the offering in Samuel an initial sacrifice of consecration. But it is not likely that the two sacrifices are really different: (1) because the narrative here is generally parallel with Samuel; and (2) the chronicler may have intentionally paraphrased the older text for the sake of explanation. (Comp. Num_23:1; Num_23:29 for the sacrifice.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This verse with the following four are paralleled by…
This verse with the following four are paralleled by 2Sa_6:12-16 The contents of this verse in particular reveal the intense anxiety and the trembling fear and awe with which the sacred burden was now again lifted. A world of meaning and of feeling for all those present at least underlay the expression, When God helped the Levites that bare the ark. (comp 1Sa_6:14, 1Sa_6:15; 2Sa_6:13, 2Sa_6:18) The offering of seven bullocks and seven rams is thought by some to he additional to David"s offering, when he had gone "six paces". (2Sa_6:13) Much more probably, however, the "six paces" meant, not six footsteps, but six lengths that would make some distance.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.