1 Chronicles 21:2-3

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 

1 Chronicles 21:5

21:5 Joab reported to David the number of warriors. ⁶  In all Israel there were 1,100,000 ⁷  sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers. ⁸ 

1 Chronicles 27:24

27:24 Joab son of Zeruiah started to count the men but did not finish. God was angry with Israel ⁹  because of this, so the number was not recorded in the scroll ¹⁰  called The Annals of King David.

[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.

[21:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and Joab gave to David the number of the numbering of the army [or “people”].”

[21:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “a thousand thousands and one hundred thousand.”

[21:5]  ⁹ 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.”

[27:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “anger was on Israel.”

[27:24]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has “in the number,” but מִסְפַּר (mispar) is probably dittographic – note that the same word appears immediately before this. The form should be emended to בְּסֵפֶר (bÿsefar, “in the scroll”).