1 Chronicles 16:8–36
One psalm from three
The thanksgiving psalm at the ark's arrival combines Psalm 105:1–15, Psalm 96 and Psalm 106:1, 47–48. The texts are close but not identical.
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
- Psalm 105:1–15 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Psalter (date debated)
- Psalm 96 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Psalter (date debated)
- Psalm 106:47–48 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Psalter (date debated)
- Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
- Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles
Every witness, in order
Psalter (date debated)
Psalm 105:1–15 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
O ye seed of Abraham his servant
1 Chronicles 16:13 has "seed of Israel."
Psalter (date debated)
Psalm 96 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary
1 Chronicles 16:27: "strength and gladness are in his place" (no temple yet).
Psalter (date debated)
Psalm 106:47–48 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen… And let all the people say, Amen
Chronicles: "And all the people said, Amen." The psalm's closing doxology becomes narrative.
Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)
Original Chronicles
No original survives; no certain Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles.
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Contains the psalm. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי־טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ (16:34)
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name (16:8)
What changed, and why
"In his place" for "in his sanctuary" fits a time before the temple; "Gather us… from the heathen" fits the exile. Most scholars think the Chronicler drew on the Psalter; some think both drew on temple liturgy.
What the evidence shows
- 1 Chronicles 16:8–36 parallels Psalms 105, 96 and 106.
Source: A. Hensley, "David as Speaker of Psalms 105–106," SBJT 25.3 ↗; S. Gillingham, on the reception of psalms in Chronicles (2022) ↗
- Chronicles adapted the psalms to its setting.
Sources
Related lessons
- Worship before the Ark and David's Psalm →The ark is placed in David's tent; offerings are made and bread given to everyone. David appoints Asaph and his brothers to give thanks. Their psalm combines parts of Psalms 105, 96 and 106. Worship continues in two places: before the ark in Jerusalem, and at the tabernacle and altar at Gibeon, under Zadok.
- How 1 Chronicles Came to Us →Chronicles is one book in Hebrew, Divrei ha-Yamim, "the events of the days." Most scholars date it to the 4th century BC in Persian-period Judah; Jewish tradition attributes it to Ezra. Its sources include Genesis, Samuel–Kings, Psalms and records it names. No Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles is known; the only possible Chronicles fragment, 4Q118, corresponds to 2 Chronicles and its identification is disputed.