24
1 Again
the LORD’s anger
burned against
Israel, and he
moved David
against them, saying, “Go, count Israel
and Judah.”
2 The
king said to Joab
the captain of
the army, who
was with him, “Now
go back and
forth through all
the tribes of
Israel, from Dan
even to Beersheba,
and count the
people, that I
may know the
sum of the
people.”
3 Joab
said to the
king, “Now may
the LORD your
God add to
the people, however
many they may
be, one hundred
times; and may
the eyes of
my lord the
king see it.
But why does
my lord the
king delight in
this thing?”
4 Notwithstanding,
the king’s word
prevailed against
Joab and against
the captains of
the army. Joab
and the captains
of the army
went out from
the presence of
the king to count
the people of
Israel.
5 They
passed over the
Jordan and
encamped in Aroer,
on the right
side of the
city that is
in the middle
of the valley
of Gad, and
to Jazer;
6 then they came
to Gilead and
to the land
of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came
to Dan Jaan and
around to Sidon,
7 and
came to
the stronghold of
Tyre, and to
all the cities
of the Hivites
and of the
Canaanites; and
they went out
to the south
of Judah,
at Beersheba.
8 So when
they had gone
back and forth
through all
the land, they came
to Jerusalem at
the end of
nine months and
twenty days.
9 Joab
gave up the
sum of the
counting of the
people to the
king; and there
were in Israel
eight hundred thousand
valiant men who
drew the sword,
and the men
of Judah were
five hundred thousand
men.
10 David’s
heart struck him
after he had
counted the people.
David said to
the LORD, “I
have sinned
greatly in that
which I have
done. But now,
the LORD, put
away, I beg
you, the iniquity
of your servant;
for I have
done very
foolishly.”
11 When
David rose up
in the morning,
the LORD’s word
came to the
prophet Gad,
David’s seer,
saying,
12 “Go
and speak to
David, ‘The LORD
says, “I offer
you three things.
Choose one of them,
that I may
do it to
you.” ’ ”
13 So
Gad came to
David, and told
him, saying, “Shall
seven years of
famine come to
you in your
land? Or will
you flee three
months before your
foes while they
pursue you? Or
shall there be
three days’
pestilence in your
land? Now answer,
and consider what
answer I shall
return to him
who sent me.”
14 David said
to Gad, “I
am in distress.
Let us fall
now into the
LORD’s hand, for
his mercies are
great. Let me
not fall into
man’s hand.”
15 So
the LORD sent
a pestilence on
Israel from the
morning even to
the appointed time;
and seventy thousand
men died of
the people from
Dan even
to Beersheba.
16 When
the angel
stretched out his
hand toward
Jerusalem to
destroy it, the
LORD relented of
the disaster,
and said to the
angel who
destroyed the
people, “It is
enough. Now withdraw
your hand.” The
LORD’s angel was
by the threshing
floor of Araunah
the Jebusite.
17 David spoke
to the LORD
when he saw
the angel who
struck the people,
and said, “Behold,
I have sinned,
and I have
done perversely;
but these sheep,
what have they
done? Please let
your hand be
against me, and
against my father’s
house.”
18 Gad
came that day
to David and said
to him, “Go
up, build an
altar to the
LORD on the
threshing floor
of Araunah the
Jebusite.”
19 David
went up according
to the saying
of Gad, as
the LORD commanded.
20 Araunah
looked out, and
saw the king
and his servants
coming on toward
him. Then Araunah
went out and
bowed himself
before the king
with his face
to the ground.
21 Araunah said, “Why
has my lord
the king come
to his servant?”
David said, “To
buy your threshing
floor, to build
an altar to
the LORD, that
the plague may
be stopped
from afflicting the
people.”
22 Araunah said
to David, “Let
my lord the king
take and offer
up what seems
good to him.
Behold, the cattle
for the burnt
offering, and the
threshing sledges
and the yokes
of the oxen
for the wood.
23 All
this, O king,
does Araunah give
to the king.”
Araunah said to the
king, “May the
LORD your God
accept you.”
24 The
king said to Araunah, “No, but I will
most certainly buy
it from you
for a price.
I will not
offer burnt
offerings to the
LORD my God
which cost me
nothing.” So David
bought the
threshing floor
and the oxen
for fifty shekels
of silver.
25 David
built an altar
to the LORD
there, and offered
burnt offerings
and peace
offerings. So the
LORD was entreated
for the land, and
the plague
was removed from
Israel.