Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageDavid did not include anyone twenty years old or younger in the census, because Yahweh had promised to multiply Israel like the stars of the heavens.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GDavid did not take a count of those twenty years old and under, for YHWH had said He would make Yisra'el as numerous as the stars of the skies.
KJV
King James VersionBut David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleDavid did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.
Footnotes
The age threshold of twenty recalls Moshe's wilderness census (Num. 1:3), where only those twenty and above — eligible for military service — were numbered. David's restraint reflects both military convention and theological sensitivity: the younger generation belongs to YHWH's promise, not to human accounting. The star promise echoes the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 15:5) — to count Yisra'el would be to limit what YHWH has declared limitless. *Shamayim* can be rendered "skies" (the concrete cosmological image of the ancient world) or "heavens" (with its covenantal-theological weight). FOG uses "skies" to honour the ancient cosmological referent; FOG Message uses "heavens" to draw out the covenantal dimension.
