2 Samuel 24:11–17

¹¹Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^qGad, David’s ^rseer, saying, ¹²“Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” ¹³So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall ^sseven ³years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”

¹⁴And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^tfor His mercies are great; but ^udo not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So ^vthe Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. ^16wAnd when the ⁴angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, ^xthe Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ⁵Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely ^yI have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”