‏ 1 Chronicles 21

Census Brings Plague

1 aThen Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count Israel. 2So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “ bGo, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me word so that I may know their number.” 3But Joab said, “ cMay the Lord add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” 4Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout Israel, and came to Jerusalem. 5Then Joab gave the number of the census of the people to David. dIsrael was 1,100,000 men in all who drew the sword; and Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword. 6 eBut he did not
Lit muster
count Levi and Benjamin among them, because the king’s
Lit word
command was abhorrent to Joab.

7 Now
Lit it was evil in the sight of God
God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel.
8David said to God, “I have sinned greatly,
that I did
by doing this thing. jBut now, please overlook Your servant’s guilt, for I have behaved very foolishly.”

9 The Lord spoke to kGad, David’s lseer, saying, 10“Go and speak to David, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I extend to you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’” 11So Gad came to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take for yourself 12 mthree years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord: a plague in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout the territory of Israel.’ Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall bring back to Him who sent me.” 13David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, nfor His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into human hands.”

14 oSo the Lord
Lit gave
sent a plague on Israel; seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and qwas sorry about the catastrophe, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now relax your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of
In 2 Sam 24:16, Araunah
Ornan the Jebusite.
16Then David raised his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, scovered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17And David said to God, “Is it not I who
Lit said
commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly, ubut these sheep, what have they done? Lord, my God, just let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, and not against Your people as a plague.”

David’s Altar

18 vThen the angel of the Lord
Lit said to
commanded Gad to say to David, that David was to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord. 20Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat. 21As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself to David with his face to the ground. 22Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the
Lit place
site of this threshing floor, so that I may build on it an altar to the Lord; you shall give it to me for the full price, so that the plague may be brought to a halt from the people.”
23But Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and may my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I am giving the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I am giving it all.” 24Nevertheless, King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will certainly buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer a burnt offering
Lit gratuitously
which costs me nothing.”
25So zDavid gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the
Lit place
site.
26Then David built an altar there to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the Lord, and abHe answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 27The Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifice there. 29 acFor the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were on the high place at Gibeon at that time. 30But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the Lord.
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