1 Chronicles 21 · Verse 20

1 Chronicles 21:20

And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
1 Chronicles 21:20, King James Version

1 Chronicles 21:20 in other translations

BSBNow Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.
WEBOrnan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
ASVAnd Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons that were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
YLTAnd Ornan turneth back, and seeth the messenger, and his four sons are with him, hiding themselves, and Ornan is threshing wheat.
DARBYAnd Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
BBEAnd Ornan, turning back, saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him went to a secret place. Now Ornan was crushing his grain.
WebsterAnd Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

What does 1 Chronicles 21:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Chronicles 21:20-21
20-21. Ornan was threshing wheat--If the census was entered upon in autumn, the beginning of the civil year, the nine and a half months it occupied would end at wheat harvest. The common way of threshing corn is by spreading it out on a high level area, and driving backwards and forwards upon it two oxen harnessed to a clumsy sledge with three rollers and some sharp spikes. The driver sits on his knees on the box, while another person is employed in drawing back the straw and separating it from the grain underneath. By this operation the chaff is very much chopped, and the grain threshed out.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 20 Ornan turned back, and saw the angel - The Septuagint say, And Orna turned, και ειδε τον βασιλεα, and saw the King. The Syriac and Arabic say, David saw the angel; and do not mention Ornan in this place. Houbigant translates the same reading המלך hammalech, the king, for המלעך hammalach, the angel, and vindicates his version from the parallel place, 2Sam 24:20, where it is said, he saw David: but there is no word of his seeing the angel. But the seeing David is mentioned in 1Chr 21:21; though Houbigant supposes that the 20th verse refers to his seeing the king while he was at a distance; the 21st, to his seeing him when he came into the threshing-floor. In the first instance he and his sons were afraid when they saw the king coming, and this caused them to hide themselves; but when he came into the threshing-floor, they were obliged to appear before him. One of Kennicott's MSS. has המלך the king, instead of המלאך the angel. Some learned men contend for the former reading.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

1 Chronicles 21:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיָּ֣שָׁבvai.Ya.shovand he turnedH7725
אָרְנָ֗ן'a.re.NanOrnanH771
וַיַּרְא֙vai.yaR'and he sawH7200
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הַמַּלְאָ֔ךְha.mal.'Akhthe angelH4397
וְאַרְבַּ֧עַתve.'ar.Ba.'atand [the] fourH702
בָּנָ֛יוba.Navsons hisH1121
עִמּ֖וֹi.Mowith himH5973
מִֽתְחַבְּאִ֑יםmit.cha.be.'Im[were] hiding themselvesH2244
וְאָרְנָ֖ןve.'a.re.Nanand OrnanH771
דָּ֥שׁdashhe threshedH1758
חִטִּֽים\׃chi.Timwheat<s>H2406

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Chronicles 21:20

  • Judges 6:11

    And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi–ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
And Ornan, etc. or,When Ornan turned back and saw the angel, then he, and his four sons with him, hid themselves.
Jud 6:11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Chronicles 21:19

    And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.

  • 1 Chronicles 21:20

    And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

  • 1 Chronicles 21:21

    And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

Read all of 1 Chronicles 21

1 Chronicles 21:20 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Entonces David subió, conforme á la palabra de Gad que le había dicho en nombre de Jehová.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et Ornan se retourna et vit l’ange; et ses quatre fils se cachèrent avec lui: et Ornan foulait du froment.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und Ornan wandte sich um und sah den Engel; und seine vier Söhne versteckten sich mit ihm. Ornan aber drosch Weizen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Porro Ornan cum suspexisset et vidisset angelum, quatuorque filii ejus cum eo, absconderunt se: nam eo tempore terebat in area triticum.