2 Samuel 24

1Again Yahweh's anger burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah."

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

3Joab said to the king, "May Yahweh your God add to the people, numerous as they are, a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. Why does my lord the king desire this thing?"

4The king's word prevailed against Joab and the army captains, and Joab and the army captains went out from the king's presence to number the people of Israel.

5They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer.

6They came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.

7They came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and went out to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.

8They went all through the land and came to Jerusalem after nine months and twenty days.

9Joab presented the tally of the people's census to the king, and Israel had eight hundred thousand warriors who drew the sword, while Judah's men numbered five hundred thousand.

10David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Yahweh, please remove the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly."

11David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, David's seer, saying,

12Go and speak to David: Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three; choose one for yourself from them, and I will do it to you.

13Gad came to David, told him, and said, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now know and see what word I shall return to him who sent me."

14David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh, for his mercies are many; let me not fall into the hand of man."

15Yahweh sent a plague on Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan to Beersheba.

16When the angel extended his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented from the calamity and said to the angel destroying among the people, "Enough now—stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17David said to Yahweh when he saw the angel striking the people, "Look, I have sinned, and I have acted corruptly, but these sheep—what have they done? Let your hand now fall on me and my father's house."

18Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

19David went up according to the word of Gad, as Yahweh commanded.

20Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. Araunah went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground.

21Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be restrained from the people."

22Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good in his eyes. See, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges, and the oxen's gear for wood."

23Araunah gives everything, O king, to the king. Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God be pleased with you."

24The king said to Araunah, "No, for I will surely buy it from you for a price, nor will I offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God for free." David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25David built an altar to Yahweh there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was restrained from Israel.