2 Samuel 24
1 And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David
against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
2 And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now to
and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and
number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.
3 And Joab said unto the king, Now Jehovah thy God add unto the people, how many
soever they may be, a hundredfold; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it:
but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?
4 Notwithstanding, 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.
5 And 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 unto Jazer:
6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to
Dan-jaan, and round about 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 Beer-sheba.
8 So when they had gone to and from through all the land, they came to Jerusalem
at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering 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.
10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David
said unto Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, O
Jehovah, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done
very foolishly.
11 And when David rose up in the morning, the word of Jehovah came unto the
prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
12 Go and speak unto David, Thus saith Jehovah, I offer thee three things:
choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
13 So 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 thy
foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy
land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to him that sent
me.
14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the
hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of
man.
15 So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time
appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy
thousand men.
16 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
Jehovah repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the
people, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the
threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 And David spake unto Jehovah when he saw the angel that smote the people, and
said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have
they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's
house.
18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto
Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19 And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Jehovah commanded.
20 And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward
him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to
the ground.
21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And
David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto Jehovah,
that the plague may be stayed from the people.
22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what
seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the
threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:
23 all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the
king, Jehovah thy God accept thee.
24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a
price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah my God which cost me
nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of
silver.
25 And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was
stayed from Israel.