2 Samuel 24
24
David’s census
1The LORD burned with anger against Israel again, and he incited David against them: Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.
2So the king said to Joab and the military commanders#24.2 LXX and 2 Sam 24:4; MT commander who were with him, “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people so I know how many people there are.”
3Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God increase the number of people a hundred times while the eyes of my master the king can still see it! But why does my master the king want to do this?”
4But the king’s word overruled Joab and the military commanders. So Joab and the commanders left the king’s presence to take a census of the Israelites. 5They crossed the Jordan River and began from Aroer and from#24.5 LXX; MT camped in Aroer south of the city the town that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, then on to Jazer. 6They continued to Gilead and on to Kadesh in Hittite territory.#24.6 Hebrew uncertain; correction on to the area beneath Hermon They came to Dan#24.6 LXXL; MT Dan-jaan and went around to Sidon. 7They went to the fortress of Tyre and to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites. They went out to Beer-sheba in the arid southern plain of Judah. 8At the end of nine months and twenty days, after going through the entire country, they came back to Jerusalem. 9Joab reported to the king the number of the people who had been counted: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand strong men who could handle a sword; in Judah the total was five hundred thousand men.
10But after this David felt terrible that he had counted the people. David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, LORD, please take away the guilt of your servant because I have done something very foolish.”
11When David got up the next morning, the LORD’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: 12Go and tell David, This is what the LORD says: I’m offering you three punishments. Choose one of them, and that is what I will do to you.
13So Gad went to David and said to him, “Will three#24.13 LXX, 1 Chron 21:12; MT seven years of famine come on your land? Or will you run from your enemies for three months while they chase you? Or will there be three days of plague in your land? Decide now what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”
14“I’m in deep trouble,” David said to Gad. “Let’s fall into the LORD’s hands because his mercy is great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.”
15So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that very morning until the allotted time. Seventy thousand people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. 16But when the divine messenger stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD regretted doing this disaster and said to the messenger who was destroying the people, “That’s enough! Withdraw your hand.” At that time the LORD’s messenger was by the threshing floor of Araunah from Jebus.
17When David saw the messenger who was striking down the people, he said, “I’m the one who sinned! I’m the one who has done wrong. But these sheep—what have they done wrong? Turn your hand against me and my household.”
18That same day Gad came to David and told him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah from Jebus.” 19So David went up, following Gad’s instructions, just as the LORD had commanded.
20Araunah looked up and saw the king and his servants approaching him. Araunah rushed out and bowed low before the king, his nose to the ground. 21Araunah said, “Why has my master and king come to his servant?”
David said, “To buy this threshing floor from you to build an altar to the LORD, so the plague among the people may come to an end.”
22Then Araunah said to David, “Take it for yourself, and may my master the king do what he thinks is best. Here are oxen for the entirely burned offering, and here are threshing boards and oxen yokes for wood. 23All this, Your Majesty, Araunah gives to the king.” Then he added, “May the LORD your God respond favorably to you!”
24“No,” the king said to Araunah. “I will buy them from you at a fair price. I won’t offer up to the LORD my God entirely burned offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25David built an altar there for the LORD and offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices. The LORD responded to the prayers for the land, and the plague against Israel came to an end.
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2 Samuel 24: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
2 Samuel 24
24
1 Again the LORD’s anger burnt against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.” 2The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, “Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the sum of the people.”
3 Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”
4Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel. 5They passed over the Jordan and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer; 6then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon, 7and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba. 8So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
10 David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, the LORD, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”
11 When David rose up in the morning, the LORD’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12“Go and speak to David, ‘The LORD says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’”
13 So Gad came to David, and told him, saying, “Shall seven 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 answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into the LORD’s hand, for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man’s hand.”
15 So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba. 16When the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” The LORD’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.”
18 Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the LORD commanded. 20Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on towards him. Then Araunah went out and bowed himself before 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 the LORD, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”
22Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23All this, O king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
24 The king said to Araunah, “No, but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels#24:24 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 50 shekels is about 0.5 kilograms or 1.1 pounds. of silver. 25David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.
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