2 Samuel 24
24
David Counts His Army
1The Lord was angry with Israel again, and he caused David to turn against the Israelites. He said, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2So King David said to Joab, the commander of the army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people. Then I will know how many there are.”
3But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God give you a hundred times more people, and may my master the king live to see this happen. Why do you want to do this?”
4But the king commanded Joab and the commanders of the army, so they left the king to count the Israelites.
5After crossing the Jordan River, they camped near Aroer on the south side of the city in the ravine. They went through Gad and on to Jazer. 6Then they went to Gilead and the land of Tahtim Hodshi and to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon. 7They went to the strong, walled city of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went to southern Judah, to Beersheba. 8After nine months and twenty days, they had gone through all the land. Then they came back to Jerusalem.
9Joab gave the list of the people to the king. There were eight hundred thousand men in Israel who could use the sword and five hundred thousand men in Judah.
10David felt ashamed after he had counted the people. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by what I have done. Lord, I beg you to forgive me, your servant, because I have been very foolish.”
11When David got up in the morning, the Lord spoke his word to Gad, who was a prophet and David’s seer. 12The Lord told Gad, “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I offer you three choices. Choose one of them and I will do it to you.’ ”
13So Gad went to David and said to him, “Should three years of hunger come to you and your land? Or should your enemies chase you for three months? Or should there be three days of disease in your land? Think about it. Then decide which of these things I should tell the Lord who sent me.”
14David said to Gad, “I am in great trouble. Let the Lord punish us, because the Lord is very merciful. Don’t let my punishment come from human beings!”
15So the Lord sent a terrible disease on Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand people died. 16When the angel raised his arm toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord felt very sorry about the terrible things that had happened. He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “That is enough! Put down your arm!” The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17When David saw the angel that killed the people, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who sinned and did wrong. These people only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong. Please punish me and my family.”
18That day Gad came to David and said, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19So David did what Gad told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.
20Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and bowed facedown on the ground before the king. 21He said, “Why has my master the king come to me?”
David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you so I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the terrible disease will stop.”
22Araunah said to David, “My master and king, you may take anything you want for a sacrifice. Here are some oxen for the whole burnt offering and the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood. 23My king, I give everything to you.” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you.”
24But the king answered Araunah, “No, I will pay you for the land. I won’t offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for one and one-fourth pounds of silver. 25He built an altar to the Lord there and offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer for the country, and the disease in Israel stopped.
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2 Samuel 24: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
2 Samuel 24
24
Numbering the People
1And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. 3And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? 4Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer: 6then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon, 7and came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba. 8So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
10And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 11For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 13So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.
15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. 16And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. 17And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.
An Altar unto the Lord
18And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. 20And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. 21And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. 22And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. 23All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. 24And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
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