CHAPTER 21
1 Soothly Satan rose against Israel, and stirred David for to number Israel.
2 And David said to Joab, and to the princes of the people, Go ye, and number all Israel from Beersheba till to Dan, and bring ye the number to me, that I know what it is.
3 And Joab answered, The Lord increase his people an hundredfold more than they be; my lord the king, whether all be not thy servants? Why seeketh my lord this thing, that shall be areckoned into sin to Israel?
4 But the word of the king had more the mastery; and Joab went out, and compassed all Israel, and turned again into Jerusalem.
5 And he gave to David the number of them, which he had compassed; and all the number of Israel was found a thousand thousand, and an hundred thousand of men, drawing out sword; forsooth of Judah were three hundred thousand, and seventy thousand warriors.
6 But Joab numbered not Levi and Benjamin, for against his will he did the commandment of the king.
7 Forsooth that thing that was commanded displeased the Lord, therefore he smote Israel.
8 And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, that I would do this thing; I beseech thee, Lord, do thou away the wickedness of thy servant, for I did follily.
9 And the Lord spake to Gad, the prophet of David, and said to him,
10 Go thou, and speak to David, and say to him, The Lord saith these things, I give to thee the choosing of three things; choose thou one which thou wilt, that I do to thee.
11 And when Gad was come to David, he said to David, The Lord saith these things, Choose thou that that thou wilt of these,
12 either pestilence three years, either that three months thou flee thine enemies, and be not able to escape their sword, either that the sword of the Lord and death reign three days in the land, and that the angel of the Lord slay in all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore see thou, what I shall answer to him that sent me.
13 And David said to Gad, Anguishes oppress me on each part, but it is better to me, that I fall into the hands of the Lord, for his merciful doings be many, then into the hands of men.
14 Therefore the Lord sent pestilence into Israel, and seventy thousand of men felled down of Israel.
15 Also the Lord sent an angel into Jerusalem, that he should smite it; and when it was smitten, the Lord saw, and had mercy upon the greatness of evil; and he commanded to the angel that smote, and said, It sufficeth, now thine hand cease. And the angel of the Lord stood beside the cornfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David raised up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord standing betwixt heaven and earth, and a drawn sword in his hand, turned against Jerusalem. And both he and the greater men in birth were clothed with hair-shirts, and they fell down upon the earth.
17 And David said to the Lord, Whether I am not he that commanded that the people should be numbered? I it am that sinned, I it am that did evil; what hath this flock deserved? My Lord God, I beseech thee, thine hand be turned against me, and against the house of my father; but thy people be not smitten.
18 And the angel of the Lord commanded [to] Gad, that he should say to David, that he should go up, and build an altar to the Lord God in the cornfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 Therefore David went up by the word of Gad, which he spake to him by the word of the Lord.
20 And when Ornan had beheld, and saw the angel, and his four sons with him had seen, they hid them-[selves], for in that time Ornan threshed wheat in the cornfloor.
21 Therefore when David came to Ornan, Ornan beheld David, and went forth from the cornfloor against or towards him, and worshipped him lowly upon the ground.
22 And David said to him, Give the place of the cornfloor to me, that I build therein an altar to the Lord; so that thou take as much silver as it is worth, and that the vengeance cease from the people.
23 And Ornan said to David, Take thou it, and my lord the king do he whatever thing pleaseth him; but also I give oxen into burnt sacrifice, and instruments of wood, whereby corns be threshed, into sticks to be burnt, and wheat into sacrifice; I give gladly all these things.
24 And king David said to him, It shall not be done so, but I shall give to thee silver for as much as it is worth; for I owe not to take away from thee, and offer so to the Lord burnt sacrifices freely given.
25 Therefore David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold of full just weight.
26 And David builded there an altar to the Lord, and offered thereon burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices, and he inwardly called God; and God heard him in fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt sacrifice.
27 And the Lord commanded to the angel, and he turned his sword again into the sheath.
28 Then anon David saw, that the Lord had heard him in the cornfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, and he offered there slain sacrifices.
29 Forsooth the tabernacle of the Lord, that Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt sacrifices, was in that tempest in the high place of Gibeon;
30 and David might not go to the altar, to beseech God there, for he was afeared with full great dread, seeing the sword of the angel of the Lord.