1 Chronicles 16:13-18

Context

16:13 O children¹ of Israel, God’s² servant,

you descendants of Jacob, God’s³ chosen ones!

16:14 He is the Lord our God;

he carries out judgment throughout the earth.⁴

16:15 Remember⁵ continually his covenantal decree,

the promise he made⁶ to a thousand generations –

16:16 the promise⁷ he made to Abraham,

the promise he made by oath to Isaac!⁸

16:17 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as a lasting promise,⁹

16:18 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion of your inheritance.”

[16:13] ¹tn Heb “seed.”

[16:13] ²tn Heb “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:13] ³tn Heb “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:14] ⁴tn Heb “in all the earth [are] his judgments.”

[16:15] ⁷tn The Hebrew text has a masculine plural imperative, addressed to the people. Some LXX mss harmonize the wording here to Ps 105:8, which has זָכַר (zakhar), the perfect third masculine singular form of the verb, “He (the Lord) remembers” (so NIV; NEB reads “He called to mind his covenant”).

[16:15] ⁸tn Heb “[the] word he commanded.” The text refers here to God’s unconditional covenantal promise to Abraham and the patriarchs, as vv. 16-18 make clear.

[16:16] ¹⁰tn Heb “which.”

[16:16] ¹¹tn Heb “his oath to Isaac.”

[16:17] ¹³tn Or “eternal covenant.”