myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

2 Samuel 24:1, 9

Who moved David to count the people?

"The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David" (2 Samuel 24:1). "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David" (1 Chronicles 21:1). The census totals also differ. These are two biblical histories, not two manuscripts.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

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. Original SamuelUnknown (debated)
  2. 1 Chronicles (parallel account)Composed c. 4th century BC
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Samuel
Greek
  1. Septuagint, 2 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BC; revised (kaige) from 11:2Translated from a Hebrew text of the period
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Readings

God permitted Satan
A traditional harmonization: God allowed the adversary to tempt David (compare Job 1–2).
Theological development
Chronicles, written later, attributes the incitement to an adversary to avoid making God the author of sin.
"An adversary"
Satan without the article may mean "an adversary," possibly human.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Samuel

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Composed c. 4th century BC

    1 Chronicles (parallel account)

    ✓ 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.

    וַיַּעֲמֹד שָׂטָן עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּסֶת אֶת־דָּוִיד (1 Chr 21:1)

    and Satan [or: an adversary] stood against Israel and incited David

    1 Chr 21:5: Israel 1,100,000, Judah 470,000.

  3. Translated c. 2nd century BC; revised (kaige) from 11:2

    Septuagint, 2 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of the period

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

    La colère du Seigneur s'enflamma… et il poussa David

    The LORD. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical 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).

    addidit furor Domini irasci… commovitque David

    The LORD.

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

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

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

    וַיֹּסֶף אַף־יְהוָה לַחֲרוֹת בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּסֶת אֶת־דָּוִד

    and the anger of the LORD again burned against Israel, and he incited David

    24:9: Israel 800,000, Judah 500,000.

  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).

    he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah

What changed, and why

Every witness to 2 Samuel reads "the LORD"; every witness to Chronicles reads "Satan." The difference is between books.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documented2 Samuel 24:1 names the LORD; 1 Chronicles 21:1 names Satan.
  • Strongly supportedChronicles reinterpreted Samuel deliberately.

Sources

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

Related lessons

  • The Census, the Plague and the Threshing Floor →"The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David" to number the people; in 1 Chronicles 21 it is Satan who incites him. Joab counts 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. David's heart smites him. Gad offers three punishments; David chooses plague, and 70,000 die. The angel stops at the threshing floor of Araunah. David buys it for fifty shekels and builds an altar.
  • Investigation: Samuel and Chronicles, When Two Histories Differ →1 Chronicles retells much of 2 Samuel, centuries later, with its own emphases. It leaves out Bathsheba, Amnon and Absalom; it names Satan where Samuel names the LORD; its numbers and names differ. These are differences between two biblical books, not copying errors in one.
  • The Census and Ornan's Threshing Floor →Satan (or "an adversary") incites David to count Israel. Joab objects but obeys, leaving out Levi and Benjamin. God sends a plague; seventy thousand die. The angel stands between earth and heaven with a drawn sword over Jerusalem. David buys Ornan's threshing floor for six hundred shekels of gold, builds an altar, and fire falls from heaven. "This is the house of the LORD God."