David Takes a Census
1 On another occasion theLordwas angry with Israel, and he made David bring trouble on them. TheLordsaid to him, “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2 So David gave orders to Joab, the commander of his army: “Go with your officers through all the tribes of Israel from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are.”
3 But Joab answered the king, “Your Majesty, may theLordyour God make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now, and may you live to see him do it. But why does Your Majesty want to do this?”
4 But the king made Joab and his officers obey his order; they left his presence and went out to count the people of Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan and camped south of Aroer, the city in the middle of the valley, in the territory of Gad.From there they went north to Jazer,
6 and on to Gilead and to Kadesh, in Hittite territory.Then they went to Dan, and from Dan they wentwest to Sidon.
7 Then they went south to the fortified city of Tyre, on to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and finally to Beersheba, in the southern part of Judah.
8 So after nine months and twenty days they returned to Jerusalem, having traveled through the whole country.
9 They reported to the king the total number of men capable of military service: 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.
10 But after David had taken the census, his conscience began to hurt, and he said to theLord, “I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.”
11-12 TheLordsaid to Gad, David’s prophet, “Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses.” The next morning, after David had gotten up,
13 Gad went to him, told him what theLordhad said, and asked, “Which is it to be? Threeyears of famine in your land or three months of running away from your enemies or three days of an epidemic in your land? Now think it over, and tell me what answer to take back to theLord.”
14 David answered, “I am in a desperate situation! But I don’t want to be punished by people. Let theLordhimself be the one to punish us, for he is merciful.”
15 So theLordsent an epidemic on Israel, which lasted from that morning until the time that he had chosen. From one end of the country to the other seventy thousand Israelites died.
16 When theLord’s angel was about to destroy Jerusalem, theLordchanged his mind about punishing the people and said to the angel who was killing them, “Stop! That’s enough!” The angel was by the threshing place of Araunah, a Jebusite.
17 David saw the angel who was killing the people, and said to theLord, “I am the guilty one. I am the one who did wrong. What have these poor people done? You should punish me and my family.”
18 That same day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up to Araunah’s threshing place and build an altar to theLord.”
19 David obeyed theLord’s command and went as Gad had told him to.
20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his officials coming up to him. He threw himself on the ground in front of David
21 and asked, “Your Majesty, why are you here?”
David answered, “To buy your threshing place and build an altar for theLord, in order to stop the epidemic.”
22 “Take it, Your Majesty,” Araunah said, “and offer to theLordwhatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar; here are their yokes and the threshing boards to use as fuel.”
23 Araunah gave it all to the kingand said to him, “May theLordyour God accept your offering.”
24 But the king answered, “No, I will pay you for it. I will not offer to theLordmy God sacrifices that have cost me nothing.” And he bought the threshing place and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver.
25 Then he built an altar to theLordand offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. TheLordanswered his prayer, and the epidemic in Israel was stopped.
—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/2SA/24-31a1b24ea6cf75295a7ecd33f7e98cea.mp3?version_id=68—