So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.
Parallel translations
- WEB So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
- KJV So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
- NKJV So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
- NASB So the Lord sent a plague on Israel; seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
- NLT So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result.
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
The Lord sends a pestilence and seventy thousand Israelites die. It shows the gravity of the judgment for David's sin.
Overview
A devastating plague falls, claiming seventy thousand men. The heavy toll underscores how sin, even one man's, brings widespread suffering, and how seriously God regards it. Yet, as the next verses show, judgment is met by mercy, foreshadowing the place where atonement will be made.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Sam 6:19But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
- 2 Kgs 19:35And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- 1 Chr 27:24Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of the Chronicles of King David.
- Num 25:9but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
- Exod 12:30During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.
- Num 16:46–49Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”
- 2 Sam 24:15So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 21:14 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
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