Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, April 12th, 2026
Second Sunday after Easter
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

1 Chronicles 21:1

Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of Israel.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Census;   Conscience;   Rulers;   Satan;   Temptation;   Scofield Reference Index - Satan;   Thompson Chain Reference - Adversary;   Census;   Nation, the;   Satan;   Satan's;   Satan-Evil Spirits;   Serpent;   Temptation;   Tempter;   Work, Satan's;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Devil, the;   Temptation;   Titles and Names of the Devil;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Satan;   Tempt;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Satan;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Anthropomorphism;   Satan;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Numbering of the People;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Census;   Satan;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Census;   Devil, Satan, Evil, Demonic;   Devil;   Satan;   Temptation;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Chronicles, I;   Devil;   Evil;   Evil Spirits;   Jahzeiah;   Satan;   Sin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Antichrist ;   Fall;   Freedom of the Will;   Satan (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Adversary, the;   Samuel, Second Book of;   Satan ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Devil;   Satan;   Temple;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Da'vid;   Sa'tan;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Adversary;   David;   Joab;   Provocation;   Satan;   Zoroastrianism;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ahriman;   Satan;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel.
Hebrew Names Version
Hasatan stood up against Yisra'el, and moved David to number Yisra'el.
King James Version
And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
English Standard Version
Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
New Century Version
Satan was against Israel, and he caused David to count the people of Israel.
New English Translation
An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.
Amplified Bible
Satan [the adversary] stood up against Israel and incited David to count [the population of] Israel.
New American Standard Bible
Then Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
World English Bible
Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And Satan stoode vp against Israel, and prouoked Dauid to nomber Israel.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
Contemporary English Version
Satan decided to cause trouble for Israel by making David think it was a good idea to find out how many people there were in Israel and Judah.
Complete Jewish Bible
The Adversary now rose up against Isra'el and incited David to take a census of Isra'el.
Darby Translation
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
Easy-to-Read Version
Satan was against the Israelites. He encouraged David to count the Israelites.
George Lamsa Translation
THEN Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel.
Good News Translation
Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census.
Lexham English Bible
Then Satan stood against Israel and urged David to count Israel.
Literal Translation
And Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Sathan stode agaynst Israel, & entysed Dauid to nombre Israel.
American Standard Version
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Satan stoode vp against Israel, and prouoked Dauid to number Israel.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
King James Version (1611)
And Satan stoode vp against Israel, and prouoked Dauid to number Israel.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the devil stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
English Revised Version
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sotheli Sathan roos ayens Israel, and stiride Dauid for to noumbre Israel.
Update Bible Version
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
Webster's Bible Translation
And Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel.
New King James Version
2 Samuel 24:1-25">[xr] Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
New Living Translation
Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.
New Life Bible
Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
New Revised Standard
Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then the accuser stood up, against Israel, - and moved David, to number Israel.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Satan rose up against Israel: and moved David to number Israel.
Revised Standard Version
Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel.
Young's Literal Translation
And there standeth up an adversary against Israel, and persuadeth David to number Israel,
THE MESSAGE
Now Satan entered the scene and seduced David into taking a census of Israel. David gave orders to Joab and the army officers under him, "Canvass all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and get a count of the population. I want to know the number."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.

Contextual Overview

1 Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of Israel. 2 And David said to Joab and the captains of the people, Now let all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, be numbered; and give me word so that I may be certain of their number. 3 And Joab said, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more in number than they are; but, my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants? why would my lord have this done? why will he become a cause of sin to Israel? 4 But the king's word was stronger than Joab's. So Joab went out and went through all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave David the number of all the people; all the men of Israel, able to take up arms, were one million, one hundred thousand men; and those of Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men, able to take up arms. 6 But Levi and Benjamin were not numbered among them, for Joab was disgusted with the king's order.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 2987, bc 1017, An, Ex, Is, 474

Satan: 2 Samuel 24:1, 1 Kings 22:20-22, Job 1:6-12, Job 2:1, Job 2:4-6, Zechariah 3:1, Matthew 4:3, Luke 22:31, John 13:2, Acts 5:3, James 1:13, Revelation 12:10

provoked David: Luke 11:53, Hebrews 10:24

Reciprocal: Numbers 1:2 - Take ye the sum Numbers 26:4 - General Joshua 22:18 - he will be 1 Samuel 26:19 - stirred 1 Chronicles 7:2 - whose number 1 Chronicles 7:7 - were reckoned 1 Chronicles 7:40 - the number 1 Chronicles 27:24 - began to number 2 Chronicles 32:25 - General Matthew 4:10 - Satan Matthew 16:23 - Satan John 8:44 - He was 2 Corinthians 2:11 - General Revelation 12:9 - and Satan

Cross-References

Genesis 17:16
And I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her: truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations: kings of peoples will be her offspring.
Genesis 17:19
And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him.
Genesis 17:21
But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time.
Genesis 18:10
And he said, I will certainly come back to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife will have a son. And his words came to the ears of Sarah who was at the back of the tent-door.
Genesis 18:14
Is there any wonder which the Lord is not able to do? At the time I said, in the spring, I will come back to you, and Sarah will have a child.
Genesis 21:17
And the boy's cry came to the ears of God; and the angel of God said to Hagar from heaven, Hagar, why are you weeping? have no fear, for the child's cry has come to the ears of God.
Genesis 21:20
And God was with the boy, and he became tall and strong, and he became a bowman, living in the waste land.
Genesis 50:24
Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come; but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
Exodus 3:16
Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause, because of what is done to you in Egypt;
Exodus 4:31
And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As the books of Scripture are arranged in our Version, Satan is here for the first time by name introduced to us. He appears not merely as an “adversary” who seeks to injure man from without, but as a Tempter able to ruin him by suggesting sinful acts and thoughts from within. In this point of view, the revelation made of him here is the most advanced that we find in the Old Testament.

The difficulty in reconciling the statement here, “Satan provoked David,” etc. with that of Samuel, “the Lord moved David,” etc. 2 Samuel 24:1 is not serious. All temptation is permitted by God. When evil spirits tempt us, they do so by permission (Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Luke 22:31, etc.). If Satan therefore provoked David to number the peopIe, God allowed him. And what God allows, He may be said to do. (Another view is maintained in the 2 Samuel 24:1 note).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXI

David is tempted by Satan to take the numbers of the people of

Israel and Judah, 1, 2.

Joab remonstrates, but the king is determined, and Joab pleads

in vain, 3, 4.

He returns, and delivers in the number to the king, but reckons

not Levi and Benjamin, 5.

The Lord is displeased, and sends Gad to offer David his choice

of three great national calamities; famine, war, or pestilence,

6-12.

David submits himself to God, and a pestilence is sent, which

destroys seventy thousand, 13, 14.

At David's intercession the destroying angel is restrained at

the threshing-floor of Ornan, 15-17.

He buys the piece of ground, builds an altar to the Lord and

offers sacrifices, and the plague is stayed, 18-30.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXI

Verse 1 Chronicles 21:1. And Satan stood up against Israel2 Samuel 24:1, &c.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile