II Samuel 24 The Numbering of the People and the Punishment God Has Sent

 II Samuel 24

The Numbering of the People and the Punishment God Has Sent

1 And the anger of the Lord was kindled again against Israel: and he stirred up David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah.
2 So the king said to Joab, commander of the army, which he had with him: Now go around through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.
3 Then said Joab unto the king, Now let the LORD thy God multiply this people a hundred times as much as they now are, and the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why does my lord the king desire this matter?
4 But the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host: Joab went out with the captains of the host before the king, to number the people of Israel.
5 And they crossed the Jordan: and they set in the field by Aroer, on the right of the city which is in the midst of the brook Gad, and by Jazer.
6 And they came to Gilead, and to the low country of Hodsi: they also came to Danjaan, and around Sidon.
7 And they came to the fortress of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hahites and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south side of Judah, to Beersheba.
8 So they went around the whole land, and at the end of nine months and twenty days they returned to Jerusalem.
9 And Joab gave the king the sum of the number of the people numbered: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand men of war, that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
10 And David's heart pained him, after he had numbered the people: and David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: but now, O Lord, I pray thee, put over the iniquity of thy servant; because I have acted very foolishly.
11 When David rose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
12 Go and say to David, Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer you; choose one of them, so you can do it.
13 So Gad came to David, and told him; and said unto him, Wilt thou that seven years of famine should come upon thee in thy land; or that for three months you flee before your enemies, and they pursue you; or that for three days there is pestilence in your land? Decide now, and see what answer I shall give to the one who sent me.
14 Then David said to Gad, I am in great distress: but let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are many; but into the hands of men do not fall.
15 Then the Lord sent the plague on Israel from the morning until the appointed time: and from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men of the people died.
16 When the angel stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented of the evil; and he said to the angel that made destruction among the people, It is enough, now withdraw your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 And when David saw the angel that smote the people, he spoke to the Lord, and said, Behold, I am he that have sinned, and I that have done iniquity; but these sheep what have they done? Let your hand be against me, and against my father's house.
18 And Gad came that same day to David, and said unto him, Go up, build up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19 David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord had commanded him.
20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him; So Araunah went out and bowed down to the king with his face to the ground.
21 And Araunah said, Why does my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy this threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord on it, that this punishment may cease from the people.
22 Then Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer what is good in his eyes: behold, oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshers, and the equipment of the oxen for the wood.
23 All this Araunah gave to the king. And Araunah said to the king, May the Lord your God take pleasure in you.
24 But the king said to Araunah, I will not buy it for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25 And there David built an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings, and peace offerings. So the Lord was appeased with the land, and the punishment of Israel was stopped.