1 Chronicles 21:1–14

DAVID’S MILITARY CENSUS

21Satan^j rose up against Israel and incited David^k to count the people of Israel. ²So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring a report to me so I can know their number.”^l

³Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply the number of his people a hundred times over!^m My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

⁴Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem. ⁵Joab gave the total troop registration to David. In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand armed men^D and in Judah itself four hundred seventy thousand armed men. ⁶But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count because the king’s command was detestable to him. ⁷This command was also evil in God’s sight, so he afflicted Israel.

⁸David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now, please take away your servant’s guilt, for I’ve been very foolish.”^a

DAVID’S PUNISHMENT

⁹Then^b the Lord instructed Gad,^c David’s seer,^{d 10}“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.’ ”

¹¹So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: ¹²three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes with the sword of your enemy overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—a plague on the land, the angel of the Lord bringing destruction to the whole territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”

¹³David answered Gad, “I’m in anguish. Please, let me fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are very great,^e but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁴So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelite men died.