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Journey of a Passage

1 Chronicles 17:13–14

The covenant without the "rod of men"

2 Samuel 7:14–16 promises David's son discipline "with the rod of men" if he sins, and speaks of "thy house and thy kingdom." 1 Chronicles 17:13–14 omits the warning and reads "mine house and my kingdom."

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
Hebrew
  1. 2 Samuel 7:14–16 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)Samuel
  2. Original ChroniclesComposed c. 4th century BC (debated)
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Samuel

    2 Samuel 7:14–16 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)

    ✓ Contains this passage

    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.

    I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men… And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever

  2. Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)

    Original Chronicles

    – No copy survives

    No original survives; no certain Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles.

  3. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Je serai pour lui un père, et il sera pour moi un fils, et je ne lui retirerai point ma miséricorde

    No warning, as in the Hebrew of Chronicles. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Ego ero ei in patrem, et ipse erit mihi in filium: et misericordiam meam non auferam ab eo

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Chronicles

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וְהַעֲמַדְתִּיהוּ בְּבֵיתִי וּבְמַלְכוּתִי עַד־הָעוֹלָם (17:14)

    and I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom for ever

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever

What changed, and why

The changes fit Chronicles' portrait of Solomon (no sins recorded) and its theology that Israel's throne is the LORD's (28:5; 29:23).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedChronicles omits the "rod of men" clause.
  • Strongly supportedThe omission is deliberate.

Sources

  • E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)

Related lessons

  • The Davidic Covenant, Retold →David wants to build a house for the ark; Nathan first agrees, then brings God's word: David will not build it; God will build David a house, and David's son will build the temple. Chronicles follows 2 Samuel 7 closely but omits the warning that God will punish the son "with the rod of men," and says "my house… my kingdom" where Samuel says "thy house… thy kingdom."
  • Investigation: Two Histories of David →Chronicles retells David's reign using Samuel as a main source, but selects, adds and reshapes. It leaves out the fugitive years, Bathsheba, Amnon and Absalom; it adds the warriors from Ziklag, the Levites and singers, the temple preparations and the priestly orders. The differences are a window into how inspired history could be written twice for two generations.
  • Investigation: Hebrew, Greek, Samuel and Chronicles →When Chronicles and Samuel differ, three different things may be happening: the Chronicler used a different form of Samuel; he changed his source deliberately; or one of the books was miscopied later. A fourth layer comes from translation. This lesson sorts the main 1 Chronicles differences.