1 Chronicles 21:30

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

But David couldn't go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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נִבְעַ֔ת

bâʻath

H1204

“to terrify”

Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 16× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at 1 Samuel 16:14

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 265

to terrify, startle, fall upon, dismay, be overtaken by sudden terror - (Niphal) to be terrified - (Piel) - to fall upon, overwhelm - to terrify

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
12: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is נִבְעַ֔ת to terrify H1204 — appearing just 16 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

נִבְעַ֔ת to terrify H1204 occurs in 16 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
7 nouns
1 conjunction
1 particle

Verb forms

יָכֹ֥ל Qal · Perfect
לָלֶ֥כֶת Qal · Infinitive Construct
לִדְרֹ֣שׁ Qal · Infinitive Construct
נִבְעַ֔ת Niphal · Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

לְפָנָ֖יו face H6440 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 23 words from the Hebrew and 25 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 13 Hebrew tokens and 20 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 1 Chronicles 21:30 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Hebrews 12:28–29 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can't be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe,
Revelation 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, "Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last,
Revelation 15:4 Who wouldn't fear you, Lord, And glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed."
Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
2 Samuel 6:9 David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, How shall the ark of Yahweh come to me?
1 Chronicles 13:12 David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
1 Chronicles 21:16 David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
Job 13:21 Withdraw your hand far from me; And don't let your terror make me afraid.

Job 21:6 When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
Job 23:15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.
Psalms 90:11 Who knows the power of your anger, Your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?
Psalms 119:120 My flesh trembles for fear of you. I am afraid of your judgments.
Jeremiah 5:22 Don't you fear me? says Yahweh: won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though the waves of it toss themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't pass over it.
Jeremiah 10:7 Who should not fear you, King of the nations? for to you does it appertain; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like you.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Chronicles 21:30 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְלֹא יָכֹ֥ל דָּוִ֛יד לָלֶ֥כֶת לְפָנָ֖יו לִדְרֹ֣שׁ אֱלֹהִ֑ים כִּ֣י נִבְעַ֔ת מִפְּנֵ֕י חֶ֖רֶב מַלְאַ֥ךְ יְהוָֽה

But David couldn't go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Chronicles 21:30 Septuagint · lemma form

καί οὐ δύναμαι δαυίδ ὁ πορεύομαι ἔμπροσθεν αὐτός ὁ ζητέω ὁ θεός ὅτι κατασπεύδω ἀπό πρόσωπον ὁ ῥομφαία ἄγγελος κύριος

And David could not go before it to enquire of God; for he hasted not because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on 1 Chronicles 21:30 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

1Ch 21:30. David could not go before it — Did not dare to go before the tabernacle, where the altar stood. To inquire of God — Hebrew, לדרשׁ, lidrosh, to seek God, or humbly to entreat his favour by prayer and sacrifice. For he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord — That is, when he saw the angel stand with his drawn sword over Jerusalem, he durst not go away to Gibeon, lest the angel in the mean time should destroy Jerusalem: for the prevention whereof he thought it proper to worship God in that place, which he had consecrated by his special presence and acceptance.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 30. Because of the sword of the angel] This is given as a reason why David built an altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan: he was afraid to go to Gibeon, because of the sword of the destroying angel, or he was afraid of delaying the offerings so long as his going thither would require, lest the destroying angel should in the mean while exterminate the people; therefore he hastily built an altar in that place, and on it made the requisite offerings, and by the fire from heaven God showed that he had accepted his act and his devotion. Such interventions as these must necessarily maintain in the minds of the people a full persuasion of the truth and Divine origin of their religion.

For a more circumstantial account of these transactions, see the notes on 2Sa 24:1, Ac., in which several difficulties of the text are removed.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) But (and) David could not go before it—i.e., the Tabernacle at Gibeon and the altar of burnt offering (1Ch_16:4; 1Ch_16:37; 1Ch_16:39).

To enquire of God.—To seek Him, that is, to seek His favour by sacrifice and prayer. (But comp. 1Ch_13:3; 1Ch_15:13.)

For he was afraid because of the sword.—“David could not go to Gibeon,” says Keil, “because of the sword of the angel of Jehovah: i.e., on account of the pestilence which raged at Gibeon.” Others have thought that the awful vision of the angel had stricken him with some bodily weakness. A more natural explanation is that the menacing aspect of the apparition overawed the king, so that he durst not follow the usual course in the present instance. It made, as we should say, an indelible impression upon his mind as to the sanctity of the place where it appeared. (Comp. Gen_28:17; Exo_3:5; Jos_5:15; Jdg_6:21; Jdg_6:26.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

30. he was afraid] Or, he was terrified. The Heb. word is unusual.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

David, knowing that by sacrifice on this altar he had caused the angel to stay his hand, was afraid to transfer his offerings elsewhere, lest the Angel should resume his task and pestilence again break out.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

God. He performed what God had commanded. But he would have offered other voluntary victims at Gabaon, if he had been able. (Calmet) --- The distance shewed the propriety of building the temple at Jerusalem, (Du Hamel) which was nearly in the centre of the country. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

David could not, i.e. durst not. Before it, i.e. before the tabernacle, where the altar stood.

To inquire of God, Heb. to seek God, i.e. humbly to beg his favour by prayer and sacrifice.

Because of the sword of the angel of the Lord, i.e. when he saw the angel stand with his drawn sword over Jerusalem, as is related above, 1Ch 21:15,16, he durst not go away thence to Gibeon, lest the angel in the mean time should destroy Jerusalem; for the prevention whereof he thought it most proper to continue to worship God in that place, which he had consecrated by his special presence and gracious acceptance.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

30. David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel — It was a moral and spiritual, not a physical cause, that hindered David from going to Gibeon. Gibeon had probably not been spared by the pestilence, and the fear inspired by the sight of the angel, together with the command to build an altar and sacrifice on the spot where the angel appeared, convinced the king that thenceforth he must offer his sacrifices on the threshingfloor of Ornan. Hence he could not go elsewhere to sacrifice without violating his convictions of duty and obedience. He may also have feared that any disregard of the command to sacrifice on this new spot would cause the sword of the destroying angel to appear again. With this verse the first verse of the next chapter should be connected. Convinced by a Divine revelation that this spot was chosen by God as a place for sacrifice, he proclaimed, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.” Here at length he found the spot on which the temple should be built.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Afraid - When he saw the angel stand with his drawn sword over Jerusalem, he durst not go away to Gibeon, lest the angel in the mean time should destroy Jerusalem: for the prevention whereof he thought it proper to worship God in that place, which he had consecrated by his special presence and acceptance.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

But David could not Then, when that incident occurred that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded him to offer up a sacrifice, David could not go before it to inquire of God, i.e., before the altar that was in Gibeon.

because he was frightened by the sword of the angel of the Lord and David went according to the words of the Lord and built an altar, and the Lord answered him.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Chronicles, in the Historical, opens this verse with 13 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is bâʻath (“to terrify”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word bâʻath carries the sense “to terrify.” How does it shape the verse?
How does 1 Samuel 16:14, which shares the word «to terrify», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “face” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«יָכֹ֥ל» is a Qal Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Joseph Benson's Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 13 Hebrew ↔ 20 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 13 words in this verse.
“face” occurs 2× in this single verse.
12 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 13 words in this verse.