2 Samuel 24:1–15

David’s Census

24^zaAgain the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ^b“Go, number Israel and Judah.” ²So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,¹ who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, ^cfrom Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” ³But Joab said to the king, ^d“May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. ⁵They crossed the Jordan and began from ^eAroer,² and from the city that is in the middle of the ^fvalley, toward Gad and on to ^gJazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;³ and they came to Dan, and from Dan⁴ they went around to ^hSidon, ⁷and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ⁱHivites and ⁱCanaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. ⁸So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men ^jwho drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

The Lord’s Judgment of David’s Sin

¹⁰But ^kDavid’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ^l“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done ^mvery foolishly.” ¹¹And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ⁿthe prophet Gad, David’s ^oseer, saying, ¹²“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer⁵ you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’ ” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^pthree⁶ years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^qfor his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

^15rSo the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from ^sDan to Beersheba 70,000 men.