| 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. |
