2 Samuel 24:11–17

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. ¹⁶And when ^tthe angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem ^uto destroy it, ^vthe Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel ^uwho was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And ^tthe angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ^wAraunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”