What Does 1 Chronicles 21:10 Mean in the King James?
Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew word behind “offer” pictures the three judgments stretched out before David, while “choose” leaves him responsible for which one is enacted.
THE MEANING
Three consequences are made plain, and you are given a choice about which one will be enacted. The verse holds agency inside a narrowing field: choosing remains real even when every offered path carries a cost.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that having options means having control over the terms or that choice cancels the cost.
THE ROOT
נֹטֶה
noteh
GROWS FROM
נטה
natah
to stretch out, extend, or incline
The Hebrew behind “offer” is נֹטֶה (noteh), from נָטָה (natah), to stretch or extend; the three outcomes are pictured as laid out before David. The same root can describe inclining or extending a line, so the verse frames the decision as a direction chosen within an already extended field.
ALSO GROWS
hatteh: incline or turn aside
הַטֵּה
The same extension can be directional: what is laid before David can also describe the direction a heart is turned toward.
matteh: staff; tribe
מַטֶּה
This branch carries the image of something extended into a line or stem; here, three outcomes are extended before David.
בְּחַר
beḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
bachar
to choose or select
“Choose” is בְּחַר (beḥar), from בָּחַר (bachar): select one from what is presented. The verb does not make the offered outcomes disappear; it gives David agency over which one will be enacted.
ALSO GROWS
beḥir: chosen one
בְּחִיר
The choice can mark a person as selected; here, David selects which offered outcome will reach him.
mivḥar: choice; choicest selection
מִבְחָר
This noun keeps selection at the root of the word: David is choosing one from among the three presented.
THE PATTERN
Choice remains meaningful even when each available path carries a cost.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:THE THREAD
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:The verb בְּחַר (beḥar), “choose,” grows from the same root בחר (bachar) as the choice in Deuteronomy. There, life and death are both set before the hearer, making visible how choosing selects among outcomes already named.
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