1 Tawarikh 21:2-5

21:2 David told Joab and the leaders of the army, ¹  “Go, count the number of warriors ²  from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.” ³  21:3 Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army ⁴  a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?” ⁵ 

21:4 But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections. ⁶  So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem. ⁷  21:5 Joab reported to David the number of warriors. ⁸  In all Israel there were 1,100,000 ⁹  sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers. ¹⁰ 

[21:2]  ¹ tn Or “people.”

[21:2]  ² tn Heb “Go, count Israel.” See the note on “had” in v. 1.

[21:2]  ³ tn Heb “their number.”

[21:3]  ⁴ tn Or “people.”

[21:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Why should it become guilt for Israel?” David’s decision betrays an underlying trust in his own strength rather than in divine provision. See also 1 Chr 27:23-24.

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the word of the king was stronger than Joab.”

[21:4]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Joab gave to David the number of the numbering of the army [or “people”].”

[21:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “a thousand thousands and one hundred thousand.”

[21:5]  ¹⁰ tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:9 has variant figures: “In Israel there were eight hundred thousand sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were five hundred thousands soldiers.”