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1 And the Lord caused his anger to burn forth again in Israel, and Satan stirred up David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Juda. 2 And the king said to Joab commander of the host, who was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel and Juda, from Dan even to Bersabee, and number the people, and I will know the number of the people. 3 And Joab said to the king, Now may the Lord add to the people one hundred-fold as many as they are, and may the eyes of my lord the king * see it: but why does my lord the king desire this thing? 4 Nevertheless the word of the king prevailed against Joab and the captains of the host: And Joab and the captains of the host went out before the king to number the people of Israel. 5 And they went over Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right of the city which is in the midst of the valley of Gad and Eliezer. 6 And they came to Galaad, and into the land of Thabason, which is Adasai, and they came to Danidan and Udan, and compassed Sidon. 7 And they came to Mapsar of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Evite and the Chananite: and they came by the South of Juda to Bersabee. 8 And they compassed the whole land; and they arrived at Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave in the number of the census of the people to the king: and Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand men of might that drew sword; and the men of Juda, five hundred thousand fighting men. 10 And the heart of David struck him after he had numbered the people; and David said to the Lord, I have sinned grievously, O Lord, in what I have now done: remove, I pray you, the iniquity of your servant, for I have been exceedingly foolish. 11 And David rose early in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, the seer, saying, Go, and speak to David, saying, 12 Thus says the Lord, † I bring one of three things upon you: now choose you one of them, and I will do it to you. 13 And Gad went in to David, and told him, and said to him, Choose one of these things to befall you, whether there shall come upon you for three years famine in your land; or that you should flee three months before your enemies, and they should pursue you; or that there should be for three days mortality in your land. Now then decide, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said to Gad, On every side ‡ I am much straitened: let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his compassions are very many; and let me not fall into the hands of man. 15 So David chose for himself the mortality: and they were the days of wheat harvest; and the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from morning till § noon, and the plague began amongst the people; and there died of the people from Dan even to Bersabee seventy thousand men. 16 And the angel of the Lord stretched out his hand against Jerusalem to destroy it, and the Lord repented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is ** enough now, withhold your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite. 17 And David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel striking the people, and he said, Behold, it is I that have done wrong, †† but these sheep what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, be upon me, and upon my father's house. 18 And Gad came to David in that day, and said to him, Go up, and set up to the Lord an altar in the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite. 19 And David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord commanded him. 20 And Orna ‡‡ looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on before him: and Orna went forth, and did obeisance to the king with his face to the earth. 21 And Orna said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? and David said, To buy of you the threshing floor, in order to build an altar to the Lord that the plague may be restrained from off the people. 22 And Orna said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer to the Lord that which is good in his eyes: behold, here are oxen for a whole burnt offering, and the wheels and furniture of the oxen for wood. 23 Orna gave all to the king: and Orna said to the king, The Lord your God bless you. 24 And the king said to Orna, Nay, but I will surely buy it of you at a fair price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God a whole burnt offering for nothing. So David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for §§ fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered up whole burnt offerings and peace-offerings: and Solomon made an addition to the altar afterwards, for it was little at first. And the Lord listened to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
* 24:3 Gr. seeing. † 24:12 The word εἰμὶ is simply redundant. ‡ 24:14 Gr. things are very narrow to me. § 24:15 Lit. dinner time. ** 24:16 Gr. much. †† 24:17 Alex. adds, 'and I the shepherd have done wickedly.' ‡‡ 24:20 Gr. stooped. See 1 Pet. 1:12; also John 20:5. §§ 24:24 Gr. silver of fifty shekels.