2 Samuel 24:1–25
David’s Census of Israel and Judah
24 Again athe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, b“Go, 1number Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, cfrom Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that dI may know the number of the people.”
3 And Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God eadd to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?” 4 Nevertheless the king’s word 2prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.
5 And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in fAroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward gJazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to hDan Jaan and around to iSidon; 7 and they came to the stronghold of jTyre and to all the cities of the kHivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. lAnd there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
10 And mDavid’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So nDavid said to the Lord, o“I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have pdone very foolishly.”
11 Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet qGad, David’s rseer, saying, 12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall sseven 3years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, tfor His mercies are great; but udo not let me fall into the hand of man.”
15 So vthe Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. 16 wAnd when the 4angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, xthe Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the 4angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the 4angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of 5Araunah the Jebusite.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely yI have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
The Altar on the Threshing Floor
18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, z“Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
aAnd David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that bthe plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. cLook, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.”
And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God daccept you.”
24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So eDavid bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. fSo the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and gthe plague was withdrawn from Israel.