1 Chronicles 21:1-7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 21
David’s Census; the Plague. 1 (A)A satan[a] rose up against Israel, and he incited David to take a census of Israel.(B) 2 David therefore said to Joab and to the other generals of the army, “Go, number the Israelites from Beer-sheba to Dan, and report back to me that I may know their number.” 3 But Joab replied: “May the Lord increase his people a hundredfold! My lord king, are not all of them my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord seek to do this thing? Why should he bring guilt upon Israel?” 4 However, the king’s command prevailed over Joab, who departed and traversed all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported the census figures to David: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in all Israel one million one hundred thousand, and in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand. 6 Levi and Benjamin, however, he did not include in the census, for the king’s command was repugnant to Joab.(C) 7 This command was evil in the sight of God, and he struck Israel.
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- 21:1 A satan: in the parallel passage (2 Sm 24:1) David is led astray because of the Lord’s anger. The Chronicler’s modification reflects the changed theological outlook of postexilic Israel, when evil was no longer attributed directly to God. At an earlier period the Hebrew word satan (“adversary,” or, especially in a court of law, “accuser”) designated both human beings (1 Kgs 11:14) and a “son of God” who accused people before God (Jb 1:6–12; 2:1–7; Zec 3:1–2). In later Judaism (cf. Wis 2:24) and in the New Testament, satan, or the “devil” (from diablos, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word), designates an evil spirit who tempts people to do wrong.
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