2 Samuel 24
24
David Takes a Census
(1 Chronicles 21.1-27)
1On another occasion the Lord was angry with Israel, and he made David bring trouble on them. The Lord said to him, “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.” 2So David gave orders to Joab, the commander of his army: “Go with your officers through all the tribes of Israel from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are.”
3But Joab answered the king, “Your Majesty, may the Lord your God make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now, and may you live to see him do it. But why does Your Majesty want to do this?” 4But the king made Joab and his officers obey his order; they left his presence and went out to count the people of Israel.
5They crossed the Jordan and camped south of Aroer, the city in the middle of the valley, in the territory of Gad.#24.5: Probable text Aroer … Gad; Hebrew unclear. From there they went north to Jazer, 6and on to Gilead and to Kadesh, in Hittite territory.#24.6: One ancient translation Kadesh, in Hittite territory; Hebrew to the land of Tahtim, Hodshi. Then they went to Dan, and from Dan they went#24.6: Probable text and from Dan they went; Hebrew unclear. west to Sidon. 7Then they went south to the fortified city of Tyre, on to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and finally to Beersheba, in the southern part of Judah. 8So after nine months and twenty days they returned to Jerusalem, having traveled through the whole country. 9They reported to the king the total number of men capable of military service: 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.
10But after David had taken the census, his conscience began to hurt, and he said to the Lord, “I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.”
11-12The Lord said to Gad, David's prophet, “Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses.” The next morning, after David had gotten up, 13Gad went to him, told him what the Lord had said, and asked, “Which is it to be? Three#24.13: Some ancient translations (and see 1 Ch 21.12) Three; Hebrew Seven. years of famine in your land or three months of running away from your enemies or three days of an epidemic in your land? Now think it over, and tell me what answer to take back to the Lord.”
14David answered, “I am in a desperate situation! But I don't want to be punished by people. Let the Lord himself be the one to punish us, for he is merciful.” 15So the Lord sent an epidemic on Israel, which lasted from that morning until the time that he had chosen. From one end of the country to the other seventy thousand Israelites died. 16When the Lord's angel was about to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord changed his mind about punishing the people and said to the angel who was killing them, “Stop! That's enough!” The angel was by the threshing place of Araunah, a Jebusite.
17David saw the angel who was killing the people, and said to the Lord, “I am the guilty one. I am the one who did wrong. What have these poor people done? You should punish me and my family.”
18That same day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar to the Lord.” 19David obeyed the Lord's command and went as Gad had told him to. 20Araunah looked down and saw the king and his officials coming up to him. He threw himself on the ground in front of David 21and asked, “Your Majesty, why are you here?”
David answered, “To buy your threshing place and build an altar for the Lord, in order to stop the epidemic.”
22“Take it, Your Majesty,” Araunah said, “and offer to the Lord whatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar; here are their yokes and the threshing boards to use as fuel.” 23Araunah gave it all to the king#24.23: Probable text to the king; Hebrew to the king the king. and said to him, “May the Lord your God accept your offering.”
24But the king answered, “No, I will pay you for it. I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing.” And he bought the threshing place and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. 25Then he built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The Lord answered his prayer, and the epidemic in Israel was stopped.
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2 Samuel 24: GNTD
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Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)
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2 Samuel 24
24
1 Again the LORD’s anger burned 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 toward 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 toward 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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