2 Samuel 24
1AGAIN the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, when one among them over persuaded David, saying, Go number Israel and Juda.
2When the king said to Joab, the captain general of his army, who was with him, Go, I pray thee through all the tribes of Israel and Juda, from Dan to Bersabee, and review the people, and let me know the number of them,
3Joab said to the king, The Lord God add to the people, how many soever they be, a hundred fold; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it! But why doth my lord the king set his mind upon this?
4But the word of the king prevailed against Joab, and the officers of the army. So Joab and the chiefs of the army before the king, went out to review the people, Israel.
5And they crossed the Jordan, and encamped at Aroer on the right of the city, in the valley of Gad and Eliezer.
6Then they went to Galaad, and to the land of Thabason, which is Adasai, and came to Danidan and Oudan; and having gone round Sidon,
7and come to Mapsar of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Evites, and the Chananites, they came to the south of Juda to Bersabee.
8So when they had gone round through all the land, they came to Jerusalem, at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9And Joab laid before the king the amount of the review of the people. And that of Israel was eight hundred thousand fighting men; and the men of Juda were five hundred thousand warriors.
10And David’s heart smote him after this numbering of the people: and David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now therefore, O Lord, forgive, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly.
11And when David arose in the morning, a word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, the seer, saying,
12Go and speak to David, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Three things I am ready to bring upon thee, choose therefore for thyself one of them, that I may do it to thee.
13So Gad went to David, and delivered the message, and said, Choose what shall be done to thee. Shall three years of famine come on all thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or shall there be three days of pestilence in thy land? Now therefore consider; and see what answer I shall make to Him who sent me.
14Thereupon David said to Gad, I am in great straits on every side. Pray let me fall into the hands of the Lord; for very many and great are His mercies. But let me not fall into the hands of men.
15Now when David chose for himself the pestilence, it was the time of the wheat harvest. And the Lord sent a pestilence through Israel, from the morning till the hour of dining. And the slaughter began among the people, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee, seventy thousand men.
16But when the angel of God stretched forth his hand against Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord was moved with compassion at the calamity, and said to the angel who was making havoc among the people, It is enough. Stay thy hand. Now the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Orna, the Jebusite.
17And when David saw the angel who was smiting the people, he addressed the Lord, and said, Behold here am I who have transgressed! But as for this flock, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be upon me, and upon my father’s house.
18Then Gad came to David that day, and said to him, Go up and erect an altar for the Lord, on the threshing floor of Orna, the Jebusite.
19So David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord had commanded him.
20And when Orna looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming up to him, he went out and bowed down to the king, with his face to the ground,
21and said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To purchase of thee this threshing floor to build an altar to the Lord, that the slaughter among the people may be stayed.
22Then Orna said to David, Let my lord the king take, and offer to the Lord what is agreeable to him. Behold here are cattle for a whole burnt offering, and the carts and the yokes of the cattle for fuel.
23All these Orna hath given to the king. And may the Lord thy God, said Orna addressing the king, bless thee.
24But the king said to Orna, No. Let me only purchase them of thee for their full value; for I cannot offer to the Lord my God a whole burnt offering which costeth me nothing. So David purchased the threshing floor, and the cattle, for fifty shekels of silver.
25And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings. Now Solomon afterwards enlarged this altar; for at first it was small. Thus the Lord was entreated for the land, and the slaughter was stopped from Israel.