2 Samuel Chapter 24

2 Samuel Chapter 24
1 And the wrath of the Lord was again
kindled against Israel, and he moved
David against them, in that he said, Go,
number Israel and Judah. 2 For the king
said to Joab the captain of the host,
which was with him, Go speedily now
through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan
even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the
people, that I may know the number of
the people. 3 And Joab said unto the
king, The Lord thy God increase the
people an hundred fold more than they
be, and that the eyes of my lord the king
may see it: but why doth my lord the king
desire this thing?
4 Notwithstanding the king's word
prevailed against Joab and against the
captains of the host: therefore Joab and
the captains of the host went out from the
presence of the king to number the
people of Israel.
5 And they passed over Jordan, and
pitched in Aroer at the right side of the
city that is in the midst of the valley of
Gad and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came
to Gilead, and to Tahtim-hodshi, so they
came to Dan Jaan, and so about to Zidon,
7 And came to the fortress of Tyrus and
to all the cities of the Hivites and of the
Canaanites, and went toward the south of
Judah, even to Beer-sheba. 8 So when
they had gone about all the land, they
returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine
months and twenty days.
9 And Joab delivered the number and
sum of the people unto the king: and
there were in Israel eight hundred
thousand strong men that drew swords,
and the men of Judah were five hundred
thousand men.
10 Then David's heart smote him, after
that he had numbered the people: and
David said unto the Lord, I have sinned
exceedingly in that I have done:
therefore now, Lord, I beseech thee, take
away the trespass of thy servant: for I
have done very foolishly.
11 And when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came unto
the Prophet Gad David's Seer, saying,
12 Go, and say unto David, Thus saith
the Lord, I offer thee three things, choose
thee which of them I shall do unto thee.
13 So Gad came to David, and showed
him, and said unto him, Wilt thou that
seven years famine come upon thee in
thy land, or wilt thou flee three months
before thine enemies, they following
thee, or that there be three days
pestilence in thy land? Now advise thee,
and see, what answer I shall give to him
that sent me.
14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a
wonderful strait: let us fall now into the
hand of the Lord, (for his mercies are
great) and let me not fall into the hand of
man.
15 So the Lord sent a pestilence in
Israel, from the morning even to the time
appointed: and there died of the people
from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy
thousand men.
16 And when the angel stretched out his
hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the
Lord repented of the evil, and said to the
angel that destroyed the people, It is
sufficient, hold now thine hand. And the
angel of the Lord was by the threshing
place of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 And David spake unto the Lord
(when he saw the angel that smote the
people) and said, Behold, I have sinned,
yea, I have done wickedly: but these
sheep, what have they done? Let thine
hand, I pray thee, be against me and
against my father's house.
18 So Gad came the same day to David,
and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar
unto the Lord in the threshing floor of
Araunah the Jebusite. 19 And David
(according to the saying of Gad) went
up, as the Lord had commanded.
20 And Araunah looked, and saw the
king and his servants coming toward
him, and Araunah went out, and bowed
himself before the king on his face to the
ground,
21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my
lord the king come to his servant?
Then David answered, To buy the
threshing floor of thee for to build an
altar unto the Lord, that the plague may
cease from the people.
22 Then Araunah said unto David, Let
my lord the king take and offer what
seemeth him good in his eyes: behold the
oxen for the burnt offering, and chariots,
and the instruments of the oxen for
wood.
23 (All these things did Araunah as a
king give unto the king: and Araunah
said unto the king, The Lord thy God be
favorable unto thee)
24 Then the king said unto Araunah, Not
so, but I will buy it of thee at a price,
and will not offer burnt offering unto the
Lord my God of that which doth cost me
nothing. So David bought the threshing
floor, and the oxen for fifty shekels of
silver.
25 And David built there an altar unto
the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and
peace offerings, and the Lord was
appeased toward the land, and the
plague ceased from Israel.