2 Samuel 24
24
David’s Sin—He Takes a Census
(1 Chronicles 21:1–30)
1The Lord became angry with Israel again, so he provoked David to turn against Israel. He said, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”
2King David said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and count the people. That way I will know how many there are.”
3Joab responded to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the people a hundred times over, and may Your Majesty ⌞live⌟ to see it. But why does Your Majesty wish to do this?”
4However, the king overruled Joab and the commanders of the army. So they left the king ⌞in order⌟ to count the people of Israel. 5They crossed the Jordan River and camped at Aroer, south of the city in the middle of the valley. Then they went to Gad and to Jazer. 6They went to Gilead and to Tahtim Hodshi and then to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon. 7They went to the fortified city of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah. 8When they had covered the whole country, they came to Jerusalem after 9 months and 20 days. 9Joab reported the census figures to the king: In Israel there were 800,000 able-bodied men who could serve in the army, and in Judah there were 500,000.
10After David counted the people, his conscience troubled him. David said to the Lord, “I have committed a terrible sin by what I have done. Lord, please forgive me because I have acted very foolishly.”
11When David got up in the morning, the Lord spoke his word to the prophet Gad, David’s seer.#24:11 A seer is a prophet. 12“Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m offering you three choices. Choose the one you want me to do to you.’ ”
13When Gad came to David, he told David this and asked, “Should seven years of famine come to you and your land, or three months during which you flee from your enemies as they pursue you, or should there be a three-day plague in your land? Think it over, and decide what answer I should give the one who sent me.”
14“I’m in a desperate situation,” David told Gad. “Please let us fall into the Lord’s hands because he is very merciful. But don’t let me fall into human hands.”
15So the Lord sent a plague among the Israelites from that morning until the time he had chosen. Of the people from Dan to Beersheba, 70,000 died. 16But when the Messenger stretched out his arm to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord changed his mind about the disaster. “Enough!” he said to the Messenger who was destroying the people. “Put down your weapon.” The Messenger of the Lord was at the threshing floor #24:16 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks. of Araunah the Jebusite.
17When David saw the Messenger who had been killing the people, he said to the Lord, “I’ve sinned. I’ve done wrong. What have these sheep done? Please let your punishment be against me and against my father’s family.”
18That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go, set up an altar for the Lord at Araunah the Jebusite’s threshing floor.”
19David went as Gad had told him and as the Lord had commanded him. 20When Araunah looked down and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down with his face touching the ground in front of the king. 21“Why has Your Majesty come to me?” Araunah asked.
David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you and to build an altar for the Lord. Then the plague on the people will stop.”
22Araunah said to David, “Take it, Your Majesty, and offer whatever you think is right. There are oxen for the burnt offering, and there are threshers and oxen yokes #24:22 A thresher is a device used to separate grain from its husks. A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts. for firewood.” 23All this Araunah gave to the king and said, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24“No!” the king said to Araunah. “I must buy it from you at a ⌞fair⌟ price. I won’t offer the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 1¼ pounds of silver. 25David built an altar for the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So the Lord heard the prayers for the country, and the plague on Israel stopped.
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2 Samuel 24: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
2 Samuel 24
24
1And the anger of Jehovah addeth to burn against Israel, and [an adversary] moveth David about them, saying, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’
2And the king saith unto Joab, head of the host that [is] with him, ‘Go to and fro, I pray thee, through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, and inspect ye the people — and I have known the number of the people.’
3And Joab saith unto the king, ‘Yea, Jehovah thy God doth add unto the people, as they are, a hundred times, and the eyes of my lord the king are seeing; and my lord the king, why is he desirous of this thing?’
4And the word of the king is severe towards Joab, and against the heads of the force, and Joab goeth out, and the heads of the force, [from] before the king to inspect the people, even Israel;
5and they pass over the Jordan, and encamp in Aroer, on the right of the city that [is] in the midst of the brook of Gad, and unto Jazer,
6and they come in to Gilead, and unto the land of Tahtim-Hodshi, and they come in to Dan-Jaan, and round about unto Zidon,
7and they come in to the fortress of Tyre, and all the cities of the Hivite, and of the Canaanite, and go out unto the south of Judah, to Beer-Sheba.
8And they go to and fro through all the land, and come in at the end of nine months and twenty days to Jerusalem,
9and Joab giveth the account of the inspection of the people unto the king, and Israel is eight hundred thousand men of valour, drawing sword, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand men.
10And the heart of David smiteth him, after that he hath numbered the people, and David saith unto Jehovah, ‘I have sinned greatly in that which I have done, and now, O Jehovah, cause to pass away, I pray Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly.’
11And David riseth in the morning, and the word of Jehovah hath been unto Gad the prophet, seer of David, saying,
12‘Go, and thou hast spoken unto David, Thus said Jehovah: Three — I am lifting up for thee, choose thee one of them, and I do [it] to thee.’
13And Gad cometh in unto David, and declareth to him, and saith to him, ‘Do seven years of famine come in to thee in thy land? or three months art thou fleeing before thine adversary — and he pursuing thee? or are three days' pestilence in thy land? now, know and see what word I take back to Him sending me.’
14And David saith unto Gad, ‘I have great distress, let us fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah, for many [are] His mercies, and into the hand of man let me not fall.’
15And Jehovah giveth a pestilence on Israel from the morning even unto the time appointed, and there die of the people, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, seventy thousand men,
16and the messenger putteth forth his hand to Jerusalem to destroy it, and Jehovah repenteth concerning the evil, and saith to the messenger who is destroying among the people, ‘Enough, now, cease thy hand;’ and the messenger of Jehovah was near the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17And David speaketh unto Jehovah, when he seeth the messenger who is smiting among the people, and saith, ‘Lo, I have sinned, yea, I have done perversely; and these — the flock — what have they done? Let, I pray Thee, Thy hand be on me, and on the house of my father.’
18And Gad cometh in unto David on that day, and saith to him, ‘Go up, raise to Jehovah an altar in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite;’
19and David goeth up, according to the word of Gad, as Jehovah commanded.
20And Araunah looketh, and seeth the king and his servants passing over unto him, and Araunah goeth out and boweth himself to the king — his face to the earth.
21And Araunah saith, ‘Wherefore hath my lord the king come unto his servant?’ and David saith, ‘To buy from thee the threshing-floor, to build an altar to Jehovah, and the plague is restrained from the people.’
22And Araunah saith unto David, ‘Let my lord the king take and cause to ascend that which is good in his eyes; see, the oxen for a burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments, and the instruments of the oxen, for wood;’
23the whole hath Araunah given, [as] a king to a king; and Araunah saith unto the king, ‘Jehovah thy God doth accept thee.’
24And the king saith unto Araunah, ‘Nay, for I do surely buy from thee for a price, and I do not cause to ascend to Jehovah my God burnt-offerings for nought;’ and David buyeth the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver,
25and David buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, and causeth to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and Jehovah is entreated for the land, and the plague is restrained from Israel.
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