2 Samuel 24:5–15

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.