2 Samuel 24:1–15

David Sins In Taking a Census

^1aAnd ^bagain the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “^cGo, number Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab the commander of the military force who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^afrom Dan to Beersheba, and ¹take a census of the people, that I may know the total count of the people.”

³But Joab said to the king, “^aNow may Yahweh your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word stood strong against Joab and against the commanders of the military force. So Joab and the commanders of the military force went out from the presence of the king to ¹take a census of the people of Israel.

⁵And they crossed the Jordan and camped in ^aAroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward ^bJazer.

⁶Then they came to Gilead and to ¹the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ^aSidon,

⁷and came to the ^afortified city of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^bHivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ^cBeersheba.

⁸So they had gone about through the whole land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹And Joab gave ^athe total count of the ¹census of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ^b800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.

¹⁰Then ^aDavid’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. So David said to Yahweh, “^bI have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, please ¹take away the iniquity of Your slave, for ^cI have acted very foolishly.”

¹¹Then David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to ^athe prophet Gad, David’s ^bseer, saying,

¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.” ’ ”

¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^aseven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, know and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.”

¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, ^afor His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So ^aYahweh ¹sent a pestilence against Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 men of the people ^bfrom Dan to Beersheba died.