Verse 23

David did not count the males twenty years old and under, for the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Referenced Verses

• Gen 15:5 : 5 The LORD took him outside and said,“Gaze into the sky and count the stars– if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him,“So will your descendants be.”
• Heb 11:12 : 12 So in fact children were fathered by one man– and this one as good as dead– like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore.
• Num 1:18 : 18 and they assembled the entire community together on the first day of the second month. Then the people recorded their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men who were twenty years old or older were listed by name individually,
• 1 Chr 21:2-5 : 2 David told Joab and the leaders of the army,“Go, count the number of warriors from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.” 3 Joab replied,“May the LORD make his army a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?” 4 But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem. 5 Joab reported to David the number of warriors. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.