📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 16:20
What does 1 Chronicles 16:20 mean?
"They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people."
— 1 Chronicles 16:20 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
He confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance,”
when you were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners were in it.
They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.
He allowed no man to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,
“Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!”
Sing to Yahweh, all the earth! Display his salvation from day to day.
Explanation
This verse comes from within a longer song of thanksgiving that King David composed and delivered when the Ark of the Covenant was finally brought into Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:7-36). In plain terms, the verse describes the patriarchs of Israel—men like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—as wanderers who moved from country to country and from one kingdom to another. They had no fixed homeland of their own but lived as sojourners, dependent on the hospitality and forbearance of the peoples among whom they traveled.
The histor
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