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1 Chronicles 21:15

Old Testament Historical ASV (1901)

What does 1 Chronicles 21:15 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
1 Chronicles 21:15 — American Standard Version

Context — 1 Chronicles 21

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
12either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of Jehovah, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
13And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Jehovah; for very great are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man.
14So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
17And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, O Jehovah my God, be against me, and against my father`s house; but not against thy people, that they should be plagued.
18Then the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
← 1 Chronicles 21:141 Chronicles 21:16 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite--Ornan was probably his Hebrew or Jewish, Araunah his Jebusite or Canaanitish, name. Whether he was the old king of Jebus, as that title is given to him (Sa2 24:23), or not, he had been converted to the worship of the true God, and was possessed both of property and influence.”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“unto Jerusalem: Sa2 24:16; Jer 7:12, Jer 26:9, Jer 26:18; Mat 23:37, Mat 23:38 repented him: Gen 6:6; Exo 32:14; Jdg 2:18, Jdg 10:16; Psa 78:38; Jer 18:7-10; Jon 4:2 It is enough: Exo 9:28; Kg1 19:4; Psa 90:13; Mar 14:41 Ornan: Sa2 24:18, Araunah, Ch2 3:1 1 Chronicles 21:16”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“ליר מלאך האלהים ויּשׁלח, "And God sent an angel towards Jerusalem," gives no suitable sense. Not because of the improbability that God sent the angel with the commission to destroy Jerusalem, and at the same moment gives the contrary command, "Stay now," etc. (Berth.); for the reason of this change is given in the intermediate clause, "and at the time of the destroying the Lord repented it," and command and prohibition are not given "at the same moment;" but the difficulty lies in the indefinite מלאך (without the article). For since the angel of Jahve is mentioned in Ch1 21:12 as the bringer of the pestilence, in our verse, if it treats of the sending of this angel to execute the judgment…”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification