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Monday, April 13th, 2026
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

1 Chronicles 21:1

Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census.

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.
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.
Bible in Basic English
Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of 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 Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census. 2 David gave orders to Joab and the other officers, "Go through Israel, from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are." 3 Joab answered, "May the Lord make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now! Your Majesty, they are all your servants. Why do you want to do this and make the whole nation guilty?" 4 But the king made Joab obey the order. Joab went out, traveled through the whole country of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem. 5 He reported to King David the total number of men capable of military service: 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. 6 Because Joab disapproved of the king's command, he did not take any census of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.

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
I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants."
Genesis 17:19
But God said, "No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant.
Genesis 17:21
But I will keep my covenant with your son Isaac, who will be born to Sarah about this time next year."
Genesis 18:10
One of them said, "Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening.
Genesis 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord ? As I said, nine months from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
Genesis 21:17
God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, "What are you troubled about, Hagar? Don't be afraid. God has heard the boy crying.
Genesis 21:20
God was with the boy as he grew up; he lived in the wilderness of Paran and became a skillful hunter.
Genesis 50:24
He said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Exodus 3:16
Go and gather the leaders of Israel together and tell them that I, the Lord , the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you. Tell them that I have come to them and have seen what the Egyptians are doing to them.
Exodus 4:31
They believed, and when they heard that the Lord had come to them and had seen how they were being treated cruelly, they bowed down and worshiped.

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.


 
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