And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David
against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
For 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 Beersheba, and number ye
the people, that I may know the number of the people.
And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, How many
soever they be, and hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may
see it.
But why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?
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.
And they passed over Jordan and pitched in a rower on the right side of the city that
lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazar.
Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tatim-ha-Jai, and they came to Danjaon
and about to Zidon, 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,
even to Beersheba.
So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of
nine months and twenty days.
And 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.
And 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.
For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet
Gad, David's seer, saying, Go 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.
So 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.
And 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.
So 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 Beersheba seventy thousand men.
And 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 threshing place of Aaron at the Jebusite.
And 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.
And Gad came that day to David and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the
Lord in the threshing floor of Aaron at the Jebusite.
And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.
And Aaron looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him.
And Aaron went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the
ground.
And Aaron said, Wherefore has my lord the king come to his servant?
And David said, To buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord,
that the plague may be stayed from the people.
And Aaron 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.
All these things did Aaron as a king give unto the king.
And Aaron said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.
And the king said unto Aaron, 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 threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and
peace offerings.
So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.