1 Chronicles 27 · Verse 23

1 Chronicles 27:23

But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the Lord had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.
1 Chronicles 27:23, King James Version

1 Chronicles 27:23 in other translations

BSBDavid 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.
WEBBut David didn’t take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like the stars of the sky.
ASVBut David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Jehovah had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of heaven.
YLTAnd David hath not taken up their number from a son of twenty years and under, for Jehovah said to multiply Israel as the stars of the heavens.
DARBYAnd David took not their number from twenty years old and under; for Jehovah had said he would increase Israel as the stars of heaven.
BBEBut David did not take the number of those who were under twenty years old, for the Lord had said that he would make Israel like the stars of heaven in number.
WebsterBut David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.

What does 1 Chronicles 27:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
23. But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under--The census which David ordered did not extend to all the Israelites; for to contemplate such an enumeration would have been to attempt an impossibility (Ge 28:14), and besides would have been a daring offense to God. The limitation to a certain age was what had probably quieted David's conscience as to the lawfulness of the measure, while its expediency was strongly pressed upon his mind by the army arrangements he had in view.

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

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Chronicles 27:16-34

The officers of the court, or the rulers of the king's substance, had the oversight and charge of the king's tillage, his vineyards, his herds, his flocks, which formed the wealth of eastern kings. Much of the wisdom of princes is seen in the choice of their ministry, and common persons show it in the choice of their advisers. David, though he had all these about him, preferred the word of God before them all. Thy…

Read the full comment on 1 Chronicles 27:16-34 →

1 Chronicles 27:23 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.

וְלֹא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808
נָשָׂ֤אna.Sa'he tookH5375
דָוִיד֙da.VidDavidH1732
מִסְפָּרָ֔םmis.pa.Ramnumber theirH4557
לְמִבֶּ֛ןle.mi.Ben<to> from a son ofH1121
עֶשְׂרִ֥ים'es.RimtwentyH6242
שָׁנָ֖הsha.Nahyear[s]H8141
וּלְמָ֑טָּהu.le.Ma.tahand <to> downwardsH4295
כִּ֚יkiforH3588
אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe had saidH559
יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahwehH3068
לְהַרְבּ֥וֹתle.har.Botto multiplyH7235
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'ElIsraelH3478
כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥יke.chokh.Veilike [the] stars ofH3556
הַשָּׁמָֽיִם\׃ha.sha.Ma.yimthe heavensH8064

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

Cross references for 1 Chronicles 27:23

  • Genesis 15:5

    And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

  • Numbers 1:18

    And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

  • 1 Chronicles 21:2-5

    And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer–sheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. And Joab answered, The Lord make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. 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.

  • Hebrews 11:12

    Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
David took not.It seems probable, from this passage, that Joab began, by David's order, to number the children, as well as adults, but was prevented from finishing the account, probably because the plague had begun. The numbering of the effective men might have been deemed a political expedient; but pride and ostentation alone could dictate the numbering of minors and infants, especially as God had pronounced the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, innumerable.
from twenty.
Nu 1:18
he would increase.
Ge 15:5; Heb 11:12

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

Context

  • 1 Chronicles 27:22

    Of Dan, Azareel the son of Jeroham. These were the princes of the tribes of Israel.

  • 1 Chronicles 27:23

    But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the Lord had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.

  • 1 Chronicles 27:24

    Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but he finished not, because there fell wrath for it against Israel; neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David.

Read all of 1 Chronicles 27

1 Chronicles 27:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y no tomó David el número de los que eran de veinte años abajo, por cuanto Jehová había dicho que él había de multiplicar á Israel como las estrellas del cielo.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et David ne releva pas leur nombre, depuis l’âge de 20 ans et au-dessous, parce que l’ Éternel avait dit qu’il multiplierait Israël comme les étoiles des cieux.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und David nahm ihre Zahl von zwanzig Jahren an und darunter nicht auf; denn Jehova hatte gesagt, daß er Israel mehren würde wie die Sterne des Himmels.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Noluit autem David numerare eos a viginti annis inferius: quia dixerat Dominus ut multiplicaret Israël quasi stellas cæli.