‏ 2 Samuel 24

1And the Lord caused His anger to burn forth again in Israel, and Satan stirred up David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2And the king said to Joab commander of the army, who was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel and Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, and I will know the number of the people. 3And Joab said to the king, Now may the Lord add to the people a hundredfold as many as they are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king desire this thing? 4Nevertheless the word of the king prevailed against Joab and the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out before the king to number the people of Israel. 5And they went over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right of the city which is in the midst of the valley of Gad and Jazer. 6And they came to Gilead, and into the land of Tahtim Hodshi, which is Adasai, and they came to Danidan and Udan, and compassed Sidon. 7And they came to Mapsar of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivite and the Canaanite; and they came by the South of Judah to Beersheba. 8And they compassed the whole land; and they arrived at Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9And Joab gave in the number of the census of the people to the king. And Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand men of might that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand fighting men. 10And the heart of David convicted him after he had numbered the people; and David said to the Lord, I have sinned grievously, O Lord, in what I have now done: remove the iniquity of Your servant, I pray, for I have been exceedingly foolish. 11And David rose early in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, the seer, saying, Go, and speak to David, saying, 12Thus says the Lord: I shall bring one of three things upon you: now choose one of them, and I will do it to you. 13And Gad went in to David and told him, and said to him, Choose one of these things to befall you, whether there shall come upon you for three years famine in your land; or that you should flee three months before your enemies, and they should pursue you; or that there should be for three days mortality in your land. Now then decide, and see what answer I shall return to Him that sent me. 14And David said to Gad, On every side I am much straitened: let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for His compassions are very many; and let me not fall into the hands of man. 15So David chose for himself the mortality: and they were the days of wheat harvest; and the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from morning till noon, and the plague began among the people; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16And the angel of the Lord stretched out His hand against Jerusalem to destroy it, and the Lord relented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough now, withhold your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17And David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel smiting the people, and he said, Behold, it is I that has done wrong, but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand be upon me, I pray, and upon my father's house. 18And Gad came to David in that day, and said to him, Go up, and set up to the Lord and altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19And David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord commanded him. 20And Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on before him. And Araunah went forth, and bowed down before the king with his face to the earth. 21And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy of you the threshing floor, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be restrained from off the people. 22And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer to the Lord that which is good in his eyes: behold, here are oxen for a whole burnt offering, and the wheels and furniture of the oxen for wood. 23Araunah gave all to the king. And Araunah said to the king, The Lord your God bless you. 24And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will surely buy it from you at a fair price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God a whole burnt offering for nothing. So David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered up whole burnt offerings and peace offerings; and Solomon made an addition to the altar afterwards, for it was little at first. And the Lord hearkened to the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.
Copyright information for AB