So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
Parallel Translations
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So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
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So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
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So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 1 Chronicles 21:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 12:30 Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
- Numbers 16:46-49 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun.” Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, in addition to those who died about the matter of Korah.
- Numbers 25:9 Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
- 1 Samuel 6:19 He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into Yahweh’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.
- 2 Samuel 24:15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba.
- 2 Kings 19:35 That night, Yahweh’s angel went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
- 1 Chronicles 27:24 Joab the son of Zeruiah began to take a census, but didn’t finish; and wrath came on Israel for this. The number wasn’t put into the account in the chronicles of king David.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain There fell, &c. - He was proud of the…
There fell, &c. - He was proud of the number of his people, but God took a course to make them fewer. Justly is that we are proud of so, taken from us, or embittered to us.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ch 21:14. There fell of Israel — He was…
1Ch 21:14. There fell of Israel — He was proud of the number of his people, but God took a course to make them fewer. Justly is that which we are proud of taken from us, or imbittered to us.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain So the Lord . . . sent an angel…
So the Lord . . . sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it--The infliction only of the pestilence is here noticed, without any account of its duration or its ravages, while a minute description is given of the visible appearance and menacing attitude of the destroying angel.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. there fell of Israel] 2 Sam. adds, from…
14. there fell of Israel] 2 Sam. adds, from Dan even to Beer-sheba. The pestilence was throughout the whole land.
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 (14) So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel.—So Samuel.…
(14) So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel.—So Samuel. The rest of our verse is abridged. From Samuel we learn that the plague raged throughout the land from dawn to the time of the evening sacrifice.
(14-17) The Pestilence.
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 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel. This sentence…
So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel. This sentence is followed in the parallel place by "from the morning even to the time appointed." It has been suggested that "the time appointed" may mean the time of the evening sacrifice, and that God shortened thus the three days to a short one day. There seems nothing sufficient to support the suggestion, unless it might lie in the "repenting" of the Lord, and his "staying" of the angel"s hand, in ver. 15. There fell of Israel seventy thousand men. The whole number of Israel, including women, must have reached near to five millions. On this assumption, the sacrifice of life for Israel would be something like 14 per cent., or fourteen in the thousand.
Vers. 14-27.
Read full note →
The arrested hand.
The hand of Divine wrath was stretched out, and dire calamity ensued. "The Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell seventy thousand men" (ver. 14). And God sent an angel of destruction to Jerusalem: this terrible messenger stood with drawn sword (ver. 16) over the city of David, and commenced the dread work of death there (ver. 15). But suddenly the hand of God was arrested, the sword of the angel was sheathed, the ravages of the pestilence ceased, Jerusalem was saved. Whence this salvation? It is clear
I THAT GOD"S DIRECT DEALINGS WITH ISRAEL HAD NO SMALL PART IN THE MATTER. The king was vastly more responsible than any other individual in the realm for the coming of the visitation, and he was more concerned in its departure than any other. But the people of Israel were not irresponsible for the one, nor were they without a share in the other. It would have been impossible for us to believe that the multitudes of Israel would suffer as they did for this sin of David, absolutely irrespective of their own deservings; that would have been manifestly unjust. And, similarly, we should have found the greatest difficulty in believing that Divine compassion had nothing to do with the cessation of the plague. But the Scriptures sanction the conclusion of our judgment, if they do not suggest or even affirm it that the coming and the going of the pestilence were partly due to the direct relations of God to Israel, Respecting its coming, we read that, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David" against" them," etc... (2Sa_24:1) "Respecting its going, we read that "the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, etc. (ver. 15); i.e. the pity of the Lord was stirred, and he stayed his hand. We may learn here the lessons that God has direct dealings with nations, approving their piety anal their purity, condemning their ingratitude and disobedience, rewarding the one and punishing the other.
II THAT IT WAS LARGELY DUE TO THE KING"S INTERCESSION, (Vers. 16, 17.) Though it is not positively stated that the withdrawal of the angel"s hand was owing to the attitude and action of the king and the elders, yet we may safely assume that in large measure it was so (ver. 27). There was everything in David"s spiritual posture to draw down a Divine response.
1. He was penetrated with a spirit of penitence; he freely and franklyowned that the sin was his: "It is I that have sinned and done evil.
2. He was filled with a pure compassion for his people: "Thesesheep, what have they done? not on thy people," etc. (ver. 17).
3. He was animated by a spirit of noble self-renunciation. No doubt thedesire of founding a royal dynasty had grown strong and intense with years of sovereignty, and must have struck very deep root in David"s heart; yet he offers to resign all his hopes if the people may be spared. "Let thine hand be on me and on my father"s house." When intercession is thus humble, compassionate, and self-renouncing, it is likely to prevail with God.
III THAT IT WAS SUITABLY ATTENDED WITH SACRIFICE, (Vers. 18-26.) David was instructed by Gad to "set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Ornan" (ver. 18). After the usual Oriental ceremonies, the king purchased the site and reared the altar: there he offered sacrifices of propitiation, dedication, and gratitude; there he presented burnt offerings and peace offerings (ver. 26); and Jehovah signified his acceptance of the penitential and sacrificial spirit of his servants by "answering from heaven by fire upon the altar" (ver. 26). There are times when we renew our return unto the Lord, and he renews his acceptance of us. Such a time is the hour when we have sinned and have suffered. Then it becomes us to return once again unto the Lord,
(1) in penitence;
(2) in the exercise of faith in the one atoning sacrifice of the Divine Redeemer;
(3) in rededication of ourselves;
(4) in gratitude for his saving mercy. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.