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1 Chronicles 16:20

They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
1 Chronicles 16:20 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.
  • KJV And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people;
  • BSB they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
  • NKJV When they went from one nation to another, And from one kingdom to another people,
  • NASB And they wandered from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people,

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

They wandered from nation to nation and kingdom to kingdom. The patriarchs were pilgrims, yet God watched over them.

Overview

The psalm pictures the patriarchs as wanderers among foreign peoples, lacking a settled home of their own. Their pilgrim status highlights their dependence on God's protection and promise. Their journey models the faith of those who, as Hebrews says, seek a better, heavenly country, fulfilled for believers in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • Gen 46:3He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.
  • Gen 46:6They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt — Jacob, and all his offspring with him,
  • Gen 20:1Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar.
  • Gen 12:10There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

Christ at the center

The genealogies and the everlasting covenant with David trace the single thread of promise running through the generations straight to the Christ in whom the line reaches its goal.

How 1 Chronicles 16:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.