Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he
incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”
So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with
him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,
and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.”
But Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God add to the people
a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the
king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this
thing?” But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the
commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went
out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.
They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city
that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer.
Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the
Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to
Sidon, and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of
the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah
at Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came
to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab
gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel
there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of
Judah were 500,000.

  But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people.
And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have
done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your
servant, for I have done very foolishly.” And when David arose in
the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's
seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three
things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”
So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three
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 consider, and decide what
answer I shall return to him who sent me.” Then David said to Gad,
“I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for
his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

  So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until
the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to
Beersheba 70,000 men. And when the angel stretched out his hand
toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity
and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people,
“It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was
by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then David spoke to
the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and
said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these
sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and
against my father's house.”

  And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an
altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
So David went up at Gad's word, as the LORD commanded. And when
Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on
toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with
his face to the ground. And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king
come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from
you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be
averted from the people.” Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord
the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the
oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes
of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the
king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept
you.” But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you
for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God
that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the
oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to
the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the
LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted
from Israel.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
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