2 SamuelChapter 24

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¹Once again the LORD's anger burned against Israel. He stirred up David against them. He said, "Go and count the people of Israel and Judah." ²So the king spoke to Joab, the commander of his army, who was with him. He said, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba. Count the fighting men, so I will know how many there are." ³But Joab answered the king, "May the LORD your God make the troops a hundred times more than they are now. And may my lord the king live to see it. But why does my lord the king want to do this?" ⁴But the king's order was stronger than Joab and the army commanders. So Joab and the army commanders left the king. They went out to count the fighting men of Israel. ⁵They crossed the Jordan and camped near Aroer. That is south of the town in the middle of the valley. Then they went on toward Gad and Jazer. ⁶Then they went to Gilead and the land of Tahtim-hodshi. They went on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon. ⁷They went toward the fortress of Tyre. They went to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. At last they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba. ⁸They went through the whole land. After nine months and twenty days, they came back to Jerusalem. ⁹Joab told the king the total number of fighting men. In Israel there were 800,000 brave men who could use a sword. In Judah there were 500,000. ¹⁰After David counted the troops, his heart felt guilty. He said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly by what I did. Now, LORD, I beg you, take away your servant's sin, because I have been very foolish." ¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet. Gad was David's seer. The LORD said, ¹²"Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three choices. Pick one of them, and I will do it to you.'" ¹³So Gad went to David. He said, "Choose one. There can be three years of famine in your land. Or you can run from your enemies for three months while they chase you. Or there can be three days of plague in your land. Now think it over. Decide what answer I should take back to the one who sent me." ¹⁴David answered Gad, "I am very upset. Please let us fall into the LORD's hands, because his mercy is great. But don't let me fall into the hands of men." ¹⁵So the LORD sent a plague on Israel. It lasted from that morning until the time he had set. Seventy thousand people died, from Dan to Beersheba. ¹⁶The angel reached out his hand to destroy Jerusalem. But the LORD felt sorry about the disaster. He said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Pull back your hand now!" At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷David saw the angel striking down the people. He said to the LORD, "I, the shepherd, am the one who sinned and did evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand fall on me and my father's family." ¹⁸That day Gad came to David. He said, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." ¹⁹So David went up, just as Gad told him. He did what the LORD had commanded. ²⁰Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David answered, "To buy your threshing floor. I want to build an altar to the LORD there. Then the plague on the people will stop." ²²Araunah said to David, "My lord the king, take whatever you think is good and offer it up. Here are oxen for a burnt offering. Here are the threshing sledges and the ox yokes for wood. ²³O king, I, Araunah, give all of this to the king." He also said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you." ²⁴But the king answered, "No. I must pay you for it. 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.a ²⁵David built an altar to the LORD there. He offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers for the land, and the plague on Israel stopped.