1 And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
2 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 you the people, that I may know the number of the people.
3 And Joab said to the king, Now Jehovah your God add to the people, however many they be, a hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may 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 Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lies in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,
7 And came to the strong hold 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.
8 So when they had gone 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 number 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 mind struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beg you, oh, Jehovah, take away the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.
11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
12 Go and say to David, Thus says Jehovah, 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 enemies, while they pursue you? Or that there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.
14 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.
15 So Jehovah 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.
16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah was moved with pity regarding the disaster, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: relax your hand. And the angel of Jehovah was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 And David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the angel that struck the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: 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 Jehovah in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as Jehovah commanded.
20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
21 And Araunah said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor of you, to build an altar to Jehovah, 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: here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.
23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give to the king. And Araunah said to the king, Jehovah your God accept you.
24 And the king said to Araunah, no; but I will surely buy it of you at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings to Jehovah my God of that which does 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 Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.