2Sam 24
1
And again the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against
them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
2
And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now to and
fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number you
the people, that I may know the sum of the people.
3
And Joab said to the king, Now YHWH your God add to the people, how many soever they
may be, a hundredfold; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my
lord the king delight in this thing?
4
Notwithstanding, 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.
5
And they 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:
6
then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan,
and round about to Sidon,
7
and 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 Beer-sheba.
8
So when they had gone to and from through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at
the end of nine months and twenty days.
9
And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to 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.
10
And David`s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said
to YHWH, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, O YHWH, put away,
I beseech you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.
11
And when David rose up in the morning, the word of YHWH came to the prophet Gad, David`s
seer, saying,
12
Go and speak to David, Thus says YHWH, I offer you three things: choose you one of
them, that I may do it to you.
13
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, 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 advise you, and consider
what answer I shall return to him whom sent me.
14
And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of YHWH;
for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.
15
So YHWH 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.
16
And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, YHWH repented
him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; now
stay your hand. And the angel of YHWH was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17
And David spoke to YHWH when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Behold,
I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? let
your hand, I pray you, be against me, and against my father`s house.
18
And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to YHWH in the
threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19
And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as YHWH commanded.
20
And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him:
and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
21
And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said,
To buy the threshing-floor of you, to build an altar to YHWH, that the plague may
be stayed from the people.
22
And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good
to him: behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and
the yokes of the oxen for the wood:
23
all this, O king, does Araunah give to the king. And Araunah said to the king, YHWH
your God accept you.
24
And the king said to Araunah, Nay; but I will truly buy it of you at a price. Neither
will I offer burnt-offerings to YHWH my God which cost me nothing. So David bought
the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25
And David built there an altar to YHWH, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
So YHWH was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.