2 Samuel 24:1–15

The Census Taken

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

²The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^afrom Dan to Beersheba, and ¹register the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

³But Joab said to the king, “^aNow 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; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

⁴Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to ¹register the people of Israel.

⁵They 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 ^afortress 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 when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹And Joab gave ^athe number of the ¹registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ^beight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰Now ^aDavid’s heart ¹troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “^bI have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please ²take away the iniquity of Your servant, for ^cI have acted very foolishly.”

¹¹When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^athe prophet Gad, David’s ^bseer, saying,

¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the Lord says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do 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 foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.”

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

Pestilence Sent

¹⁵So ^athe Lord ¹sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people ^bfrom Dan to Beersheba died.