1
Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·sep̄ ’ap̄- Yah·weh la·ḥă·rō·wṯ bə·yiś·rā·’êl way·yā·seṯ ’eṯ- dā·wiḏ bā·hem lê·mōr lêḵ mə·nêh ’eṯ- yiś·rā·’êl wə·’eṯ- yə·hū·ḏāh
Word by word16 · parsed
√ yâçaph — to add or augment (often adverbial, to continue to do a thing)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
yâçaph — to add, augment, continue to do Not a mere “again.” The narrator's first move is arithmetic: wrath is being added to a running account. K&D reads the form as a backward pointer to the famine of ch. 21, and Benson, Gill, JFB and Cambridge all take the same view, so the chapter is deliberately hung on a prior, unexplained judgment. That an unnamed national guilt stands behind v. 1 is the one fact the text withholds and every commentator here admits withholding.
√ ʼaph — properly, the nose or nostrilNounmasculine singular construct
ʼaph — properly the nose or nostril Hebrew anger is a face: the flaring nostril. Placing ʼaph YHWH as grammatical subject of the burning makes the wrath, not David, the actor of the opening clause.
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
√ chârâh — to glow or grow warmPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
chârâh — to glow or grow warm The idiom is bodily heat in the nostril, and the infinitive construct with l- makes the burning the object added. The sequence of the verse is therefore wrath first, incitement second, command third: the census is presented as the consequence of a displeasure that already existed, not its cause. Ellicott states the same order: the anger “was not in consequence of the numbering of the people, but in consequence of that which ultimately led to that act.”
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-bNounpropermasculine singular
√ çûwth — properly, to prick, iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
çûwth — properly to prick, incite, allure The theological crux of the unit. The verb is a goad; the Hifil makes it causative; and the subject is unexpressed. 1 Chronicles 21:1 sets an adversary in the same slot, which the commentators handle three ways: Benson and Barnes read the Hebrew as impersonal (“one moved David”); JFB, Poole, Geneva and Pulpit read a divine permission with Satan as the active mover; K&D and Cambridge read Jehovah as subject outright and then define the instigation as testing rather than compulsion. ⚙ All three readings are attempts to keep James 1:13 and this verse in the same Bible; the text itself simply refuses to name the hand on the goad.
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
בָּהֶם֙bā·hemagainst them
Prepositionthird person masculine plural
The preposition with third masculine plural suffix, “against them,” has no antecedent but Israel. Poole: “Against them, i.e. for Israel's punishment.” The king is goaded, but the aim of the goading is the nation.
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular
hâlak — to walk, go A bare imperative singular. The command is issued to one man; by v. 2 it has become a plural imperative to a staff.
√ mânâh — properly, to weigh outVerbQalImperativemasculine singular
mânâh — properly, to weigh out; hence to count A relatively uncommon verb, and deliberately not the technical muster word. Ellicott and Cambridge both note the change of vocabulary, Cambridge glossing it simply “Go, count.” ⚙ The gap matters: what the verse reports as a command to count, Joab executes as a mobilization survey, and the sin the chapter punishes lives in that gap.
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
√ Yᵉhûwdâh — Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
Yᵉhûwdâh — Judah The pairing “Israel and Judah” at the end of David's reign is the fault line that will split the kingdom within a generation. Cambridge: the designation “seems to have been in use even before the Division of the Kingdoms,” and notes that in v. 2 “Israel includes the whole nation.” The seam is already in the vocabulary.