2 Samuel 24:8–17

⁸And they went through all the land, and came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king; and there were of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰And David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; and now, I beseech thee, Jehovah, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. ¹¹And when David arose in the morning, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹²Go and say to David, Thus saith Jehovah: I impose on thee three things; choose one of them that I may do it unto thee. ¹³And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine adversaries while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? Now be aware and consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. ¹⁴And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great; but let me not fall into the hand of man. ¹⁵And Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the set time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. ¹⁶And the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it; but Jehovah repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed among the people, It is enough: withdraw now thine hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷And David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the angel that smote among the people, and said, Behold, it is I that have sinned, and it is I that have committed iniquity; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, be on me, and on my father’s house!