1And again the anger of the LORD was kindled
against Israel, and he moved David against them to
say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
2For the king said to Joab the captain of the
host, which was with
him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from
Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people,
that I may know the number of the people.
3And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD
thy God add unto the people, how many soever they
be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the
king may see it:
but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?
4Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed
against Joab, and against the captains of the host.
And Joab and the captains of the host went out from
the presence of the king, to number the people of
Israel.
5And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in
Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in
the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
6Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of
Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to
Zidon,
7And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to
all the cities of the Hivites, and of the
Canaanites: and they went out to the south of
Judah, even to
Beersheba.
8So when they had gone through all the land,
they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and
twenty days.
9And Joab gave up the sum of the number of
the people unto the king: and there were in Israel
eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the
sword; and the men of Judah were five
hundred thousand men.
10And David's heart smote him after that he
had numbered the people. And David said unto the
LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and
now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity
of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
11For when David was up in the morning, the
word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's
seer, saying,
12Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD,
I offer thee three things;
choose thee one of them, that I may do
it unto thee.
13So Gad came to David, and told him, and
said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto
thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months
before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or
that there be three days' pestilence in thy land?
now advise, and see what answer I shall return to
him that sent me.
14And David said unto Gad, I am in a great
strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD;
for his mercies are great:
and let me not fall into the hand of man.
15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel
from the morning even to the time appointed: and
there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba
seventy thousand men.
16And when the angel stretched out his hand
upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him
of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed
the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And
the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of
Araunah the Jebusite.
17And David spake unto the LORD when he saw
the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I
have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these
sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray
thee, be against me, and against my father's house.
18And Gad came that day to David, and said
unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the
threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19And David, according to the saying of Gad,
went up as the LORD commanded.
20And Araunah looked, and saw the king and
his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went
out, and bowed himself before the king on his face
upon the ground.
21And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the
king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the
threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the
LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
22And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord
the king take and offer up what seemeth good
unto him: behold, here
be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing
instruments and other instruments
of the oxen for wood.
23All these things did
Araunah, as a
king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the
king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
24And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I
will surely buy it of
thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt
offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth
cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor
and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25And David built there an altar unto the
LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land,
and the plague was stayed from Israel.