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Chapter 24 |
| 1 | And again the
anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them
to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. |
| 2 | For the king said to Joab the
captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of
Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know
the number of the people. |
|
3 | And Joab said unto the king, Now the
LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and
that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king
delight in this thing? |
| 4 | Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed
against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And 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, on the
right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward
Jazer: |
| 6 |
Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and
they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon, |
|
7 | And came to the strong hold
of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they
went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. |
| 8 | So when they
had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months
and twenty days. |
|
9 | And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people
unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that
drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. |
| 10 |
And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David
said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I
beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done
very foolishly. |
|
11 | For 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 one
of them, that I may do it unto thee. |
| 13 | So Gad came to David, and
told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy
land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue
thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see
what answer I shall return to him that sent me. |
| 14 | And David
said unto Gad, I am in a great 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 upon Israel from the morning
even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to
Beersheba seventy thousand men. |
| 16 | And when the angel stretched
out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil,
and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine
hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the
Jebusite. |
| 17
| And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that
smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and 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 | And Gad came that day to
David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the
threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. |
|
19 | And David, according to
the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. |
| 20 | And Araunah
looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah
went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
|
| 21 | And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And
David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD,
that the plague may be stayed from the people. |
| 22 | And Araunah
said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto
him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and
other 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 accept thee. |
|
24 | And the king said unto Araunah, Nay;
but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt
offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David
bought the threshingfloor 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. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was
stayed from Israel. |
