2 Samuel 24:8–17

⁸When they had gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹Joab gave the king the total of the registration of the troops. There were eight hundred thousand valiant armed men^B from Israel and five hundred thousand men from Judah.^h

¹⁰David’s conscience troubled himⁱ after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish,^j please take away your servant’s guilt.”

DAVID’S PUNISHMENT

¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad,^k David’s seer:^{l 12}“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’ ”

¹³So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, consider carefully^D what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”

¹⁴David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are great,^m but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died. ¹⁶Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,ⁿ but the Lord relented concerning the destruction^o and said to the angel who was destroying^p the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.^q

¹⁷When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one^B who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand be against me and my father’s family.”