Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 21:6
But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joab reports the completed troop numbers to King David but deliberately withholds the counts for two tribes during the census.
The words — The Hebrew nit.'Av (H8581) means "it was abhorred," describing Joab’s reaction to the king’s de.var (H1697), or "word," which he refuses to fully execute.
The thread — The omission of specific tribes aligns with the Levite exclusion in Numbers 1:47 and parallels the unfinished census mentioned in 1 Chronicles 27:24, while the census itself directly precedes the divine judgment recorded in 1 Chronicles 21:7.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to observe how religious or ethical objections can manifest as partial compliance with political authority, forcing a clear distinction between stated orders and actual implementation.
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
But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 27:24 Joab 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.
- Numbers 1:47 The Levites, however, were not numbered along with them by the tribe of their fathers.
- 2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
- 2 Samuel 11:15 In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”
- 2 Samuel 20:9 “Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.