Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 21:5
And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joab delivers the finalized census figures to King David upon his return to Jerusalem after completing the royal order to traverse the nation.
The words — The Hebrew מִסְפַּר מִפְקַד הָעָם (mispar mifqad ha-'am) literally renders "the number of the muster of the people," denoting a formal military registration.
The thread — This report cross-references 2 Samuel 24:9, which records a parallel census but lists 800,000 fighting men in Israel rather than 1,100,000, while 1 Chronicles 27:23 notes David previously omitted men under twenty per divine promise.
Why it lands — The text records Joab's precise tally of 1,100,000 sword-bearers across Israel and 470,000 in Judah before noting his deliberate exclusion of Levi and Benjamin. Readers must confront how administrative reliance on military strength, pursued despite prophetic warning, establishes the conditions for subsequent divine judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 24:9 And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.
- 1 Chronicles 27:23 David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.