1 Chronicles 21:14-17·~1 min

A Plague on Israel

A plague from the LORD kills seventy thousand in Israel, and the angel moves toward Jerusalem. Before the city is destroyed, the LORD relents and tells the angel to stop.

S¹⁴o the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. ¹⁵Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!”

David sees the angel standing between heaven and earth with a drawn sword over Jerusalem, and he and the elders fall down in sackcloth. David confesses his own guilt and asks that the blow fall on his father’s house, not the people.

¹⁶When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. ¹⁷And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.”

Section summaryThe LORD sends plague across Israel, and seventy thousand die before the angel turns toward Jerusalem. As destruction nears the city, the LORD relents, and David falls before Him, asking that the blow fall on his own house instead of the people.

Role in the chapterThis brief section enacts the chosen judgment at full weight, then turns toward mercy. It also sharpens David’s role as the guilty king who pleads for the flock under his care.