Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 21:17

"And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, O Jehovah my God, be against me, and against my father`s house; but not against thy people, that they should be plagued." — 1 Chronicles 21:17 (ASV)

And David said to God. —Samuel reads, “Jehovah.” Samuel adds, when he saw the angel that smote the people (see our 1 Chronicles 21:16); and he said.

Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? —Literally, to number the people. In Samuel these words are missing. They may have been added by the chronicler for the sake of clarity, though they may also have formed part of the original narrative.

Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed. —Samuel reads, Lo, I have sinned, and I have dealt crookedly. (A different pronoun for "I" is used in Samuel.) Our text here may be paraphrastic, but hardly a corruption of the older one.

But as for these sheep, what ... father’s house. —Verbatim as in Samuel, except that the appeal, O Lord my God, is missing there. (Literally, But these, the sheep. The king was the shepherd.)

But not on thy people, that they should be plagued. —Literally, and on thy people, not for a plague. The strangeness of this order makes it likely that these words consist of two marginal notes, or glosses, which have crept into the text. They are not found in Samuel.