21
1 Satan
stood up against
Israel, and moved
David to take
a census of Israel.
2 David said
to Joab and
to the princes
of the people, “Go, count Israel
from Beersheba even
to Dan; and
bring me word,
that I may
know how many
there are.”
3 Joab said, “May
the LORD make
his people a
hundred times as
many as they
are. But, my
lord the king,
aren’t they all my
lord’s servants?
Why does my
lord require this
thing? Why will
he be a
cause of guilt to
Israel?”
4 Nevertheless
the king’s word
prevailed against
Joab. Therefore
Joab departed and
went throughout
all Israel, then
came to Jerusalem.
5 Joab
gave the sum
of the census
of the people
to David. All
those of Israel
were one million
one hundred thousand
men who drew
a sword; and
in Judah were four
hundred seventy thousand
men who drew
a sword.
6 But
he didn’t count Levi
and Benjamin among
them, for the
king’s word was
abominable to Joab.
7 God was
displeased with
this thing;
therefore he
struck Israel.
8 David
said to God, “I
have sinned
greatly, in that
I have done
this thing. But
now put away,
I beg you,
the iniquity of
your servant, for
I have done
very foolishly.”
9 The
LORD spoke to
Gad, David’s seer,
saying,
10 “Go
and speak to
David, saying, ‘The
LORD says, “I
offer you three
things. Choose one
of them, that
I may do
it to you.” ’ ”
11 So
Gad came to
David and said to
him, “The LORD
says, ‘Take
your choice:
12 either
three years of
famine; or three
months to be
consumed before
your foes, while
the sword of
your enemies
overtakes you; or
else three days
of the sword
of the LORD,
even pestilence in
the land, and
the LORD’s angel
destroying throughout
all the borders
of Israel. Now
therefore consider
what answer I
shall return to
him who sent
me.’ ”
13 David said
to Gad, “I
am in distress.
Let me fall,
I pray, into
the LORD’s hand,
for his mercies
are very great.
Don’t let me fall
into man’s hand.”
14 So
the LORD sent
a pestilence on
Israel, and
seventy thousand men
of Israel fell.
15 God
sent an angel
to Jerusalem to
destroy it. As
he was about
to destroy, the
LORD saw, and
he relented of
the disaster,
and said to the
destroying angel, “It
is enough.
Now withdraw your
hand.” the LORD’s
angel was standing
by the threshing
floor of Ornan the
Jebusite.
16 David
lifted up his
eyes, and saw
the LORD’s angel
standing between
earth and the
sky, having a
drawn sword in
his hand stretched
out over Jerusalem.
Then David and
the elders,
clothed in
sackcloth, fell on
their faces.
17 David said
to God, “Isn’t it
I who commanded
the people to
be counted? It
is even I
who have sinned
and done very
wickedly; but
these sheep, what
have they done?
Please let your
hand, O LORD
my God, be
against me and
against my father’s
house; but not
against your
people, that they
should be plagued.”
18 Then
the LORD’s
angel commanded Gad
to tell David that
David should go
up and raise
an altar to
the LORD on
the threshing
floor of Ornan the
Jebusite.
19 David
went up at
the saying of
Gad, which he
spoke in the
LORD’s name.
20 Ornan
turned back and
saw the angel;
and his four sons
who were with
him hid themselves.
Now Ornan was threshing
wheat.
21 As
David came
to Ornan, Ornan looked
and saw David,
and went out
of the threshing
floor, and bowed
himself to David
with his face
to the ground.
22 Then
David said to Ornan, “Sell
me the place
of this threshing
floor, that I
may build an
altar to the
LORD on it.
You shall sell
it to me
for the full
price, that the
plague may be
stopped from afflicting
the people.”
23 Ornan said
to David, “Take
it for yourself,
and let my lord
the king do
that which is
good in his
eyes. Behold, I
give the oxen
for burnt
offerings, and the
threshing instruments
for wood, and
the wheat for
the meal offering.
I give it
all.”
24 King
David said to Ornan, “No, but I will
most certainly buy
it for the
full price. For
I will not
take that which
is yours for the
LORD, nor offer
a burnt offering
that costs me
nothing.”
25 So
David gave to Ornan
six hundred shekels
of gold by
weight for the
place.
26 David
built an altar
to the LORD
there, and offered
burnt offerings
and peace
offerings, and
called on the
LORD; and he
answered him from
the sky by fire
on the altar
of burnt offering.
27 Then
the LORD commanded
the angel, and
he put his
sword back into
its sheath.
28 At
that time, when
David saw that
the LORD had
answered him in
the threshing
floor of Ornan the
Jebusite, then he
sacrificed there.
29 For
the LORD’s
tabernacle, which
Moses made in
the wilderness,
and the altar
of burnt offering,
were at that
time in the
high place at
Gibeon.
30 But
David couldn’t go
before it to
inquire of God,
for he was
afraid because of
the sword of
the LORD’s angel.