And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| David | דָּוִ֨ד da.Vid | H1732 | David · proper noun, a man's name |
| spake | וַיֹּאמֶר֩ vai.yo.Mer | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| LORD | יְהוָ֜ה Yah.weh | H3068 | Jehovah · proper noun, a title |
| saw | בִּרְאֹת֣וֹ bir.'o.To | H7200 | to see · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular |
| angel | הַמַּלְאָ֣ךְ ha.mal.'Akh | H4397 | a messenger · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| smote | הַמַּכֶּ֣ה ha.ma.Keh | H5221 | to strike (lightly or severely · definite article + verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute |
| people | בָעָ֗ם va.'Am | H5971 | a people (as a congregated unit) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| said | וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ vai.Yo.mer | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| sinned | חָטָ֙אתִי֙ cha.Ta.ti | H2398 | properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular |
| wickedly | הֶעֱוֵ֔יתִי he.'e.Vei.ti | H5753 | to crook · verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common singular |
| sheep | הַצֹּ֖אן ha.Tzon | H6629 | a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute |
| done | עָשׂ֑וּ 'a.Su | H6213 | to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural |
| hand | יָדְךָ֛ ya.de.Kha | H3027 | a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular |
| father’s | אָבִֽי 'a.Vi | H1 | father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix |
| house | וּבְבֵ֥ית u.ve.Veit | H1004 | a house (in the greatest variation of applications · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
David . . . said--or, "had said," I have sinned . . . but these sheep, what have they done?--The guilt of numbering the people lay exclusively with David. But in the body politic as well as natural, when the head suffers, all the members suffer along with it; and, besides, although David's sin was the immediate cause, the great increase of national offenses at this time had (Sa2 24:1) kindled the anger of the Lord.
But these sheep, what have they done? - It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in their regal capacity, but by afflictions on their land, in which the people must necessarily suffer. If the king, therefore, by his own personal offenses, in which the people can have no part, bring down God's judgments upon his people, (though they suffer innocently), grievous will be the account that he must give to God. The people generally suffer for the miscarriages of their governors: this has been observed in every age. Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. - "When doting monarchs urge Unsound resolves, their subjects feel the scourge." Hor. Ep. lib. i., ep. 2,…
Read the whole note in the consoleAnd David spake unto the Lord,.... In prayer; he and the elders of Israel being clothed in sackcloth, and fallen on their faces, he prayed, not unto the angel, but to Jehovah that sent him; see 1 Chronicles 21:16, when he saw the angel that smote the people; in the air over Jerusalem, with a drawn sword in his hand, which made him appear terrible: and said, lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; in numbering the people: but these sheep, what have they done? he looked upon himself as the only transgressor, and his people as innocent, and as harmless as sheep; he thought of no sins but his own; these were uppermost in his mind, and lay heavy on his conscience; and it grieved him extre…
Read the whole note in the consoleGood, therefore, is humility. It delivers those who are in danger and raises those who have fallen. This humility was known to him who said, "Behold, it is I that have sinned, and I the shepherd have acted wickedly; and these in this flock, what have they done? Let your hand be against me." Well does David say this who made his kingdom subject to God and did penance and, having confessed his sin, asked pardon. He attained salvation through humility. Christ humbled himself to raise up all, and whoever follows the humility of Christ attains the rest of Christ.
He is a most diligent pastor who delivered over himself on behalf of his sheep. He is an excellent leader who gave himself in behalf of his sheep.… And when David numbered the flock of his sheep, wrath came upon them, and they began to be destroyed. Then David delivered himself over on behalf of his sheep, when he prayed, saying, "O Lord God, I have sinned in that I have numbered Israel. Let your hand be on me and on my father's house. These innocent sheep, how have they sinned?" So also [in this way] all the diligent pastors used to give themselves on behalf of their sheep.But those pastors who did not care for the sheep, those were hirelings who used to feed themselves alone.
Therefore since the apostle taught that a person who has passed out of this body will be with Christ, provided he deserves it, let us consider the nature of life and of death. We know from the teaching of Scripture that death is a freeing of the soul from the body, a kind of separation in man. For we are freed from this bond between soul and body, when we depart.… He [David] readily offered himself to death to atone for his offense against the Lord and presented himself, prepared to suffer God's vengeance for the well-being of his afflicted people. He knew that it was more glorious to die for Christ than to rule in this world, for what is more excellent than to become a victim for Christ?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
David's heart, i.e., his conscience, smote him, after he had numbered the people, or had given orders for the census to be taken. Having now come to a knowledge of his sin, he prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, because he had acted foolishly. The sin consisted chiefly in the self-exaltation which had led to this step (see the introductory remarks). Sa2 24:11-13 When he rose up in the morning, after he had calmly reflected upon the matter during the night upon his bed, and had been brought to see the folly of his determination, the prophet Gad came to him by the command of God, pointed out to him his fault, and foretold the punishment that would come from God. "Shall seven years of famine co…
I am the one who has sinned: David’s earlier confession of sin was limited to his circumstances (“forgive my guilt,” 24:10); now he prayed for those he considered innocent (but see 24:1) and offered to die in their place. • as sheep: David was the shepherd of Israel (see study note on 7:8).
The Yevusite. He was the chief officer of the Zion fortress the name of which is Yevusi.22Having formerly belonged to them, see earlier verses 5:6–5:9.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
