1 Chronicles 21
1 Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of Israel.
An adversary arose against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
2 And David said to Joab and the captains of the people, Now let all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, be numbered; and give me word so that I may be certain of their number.
David said to Joab and to the commanders of the army, “Go, count the people of Israel from Beersheba to Dan and report back to me, that I may know their number.”
3 And Joab said, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more in number than they are; but, my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants? why would my lord have this done? why will he become a cause of sin to Israel?
Joab said, “May Yahweh make his army a hundred times greater than it is. But my master the king, do they not all serve my master? Why does my master want this? Why bring guilt on Israel?”
4 But the king's word was stronger than Joab's. So Joab went out and went through all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
But the king's word was enforced against Joab. So Joab left and went throughout all Israel. Then he came back to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gave David the number of all the people; all the men of Israel, able to take up arms, were one million, one hundred thousand men; and those of Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men, able to take up arms.
Then Joab reported the total of the count of the fighting men to David. There were in Israel 1,100,000 men who drew the sword. Judah alone had 470,000 soldiers.
6 But Levi and Benjamin were not numbered among them, for Joab was disgusted with the king's order.
But Levi and Benjamin were not counted among them, for the king's command had disgusted Joab.
7 And God was not pleased with this thing; so he sent punishment on Israel.
God was offended by this action, so he attacked Israel.
8 Then David said to God, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.
David said to God, “I have greatly sinned by doing this. Now take away your servant's guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 Then the word of the Lord came to Gad, David's seer, saying,
Yahweh told Gad, David's prophet,
10 Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, so that I may do it to you.
“Go say to David, 'This is what Yahweh says: I am giving you three choices. Choose one of them.'”
11 So Gad came to David and said to him, The Lord says, Take whichever you will:
So Gad went to David and said to him, “Yahweh says this, 'Choose one of these:
12 Three years when there will not be enough food; or three months of war, when you will go in flight before your haters, being in great danger of the sword; or three days of the sword of the Lord, disease in the land, and the angel of the Lord taking destruction through all the land of Israel. Now give thought to the answer I am to take back to him who sent me.
either three years of famine, three months being pursued by your enemies and being caught by their swords, or else three days of Yahweh's sword, that is, a plague in the land, with the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the land of Israel.' Now then, decide what answer I should take to the one who sent me.”
13 And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let me come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.
Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress! Let me fall into the hand of Yahweh rather than into the hand of man, for his merciful actions are very great.”
14 So the Lord sent disease on Israel, causing the death of seventy thousand men.
So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand people died.
15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem for its destruction: and when he was about to do so, the Lord saw, and had regret for the evil, and said to the angel of destruction, It is enough; do no more. Now the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy it, Yahweh watched and changed his mind about the harm. He said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now draw back your hand.” At that time the angel of Yahweh was standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David, lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord there between earth and heaven, with an uncovered sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the responsible men, clothed in haircloth, went down on their faces.
David looked up and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand raised over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, lay facedown on the ground.
17 And David said to God, Was it not I who gave the order for the people to be numbered? It is I who have done the sin and the great wrong; but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand, O Lord God, be lifted up against me and against my family, but not against your people to send disease on them.
David said to God, “Is it not I that commanded that the army be numbered? I did this wicked thing. But these sheep, what have they done? Yahweh my God! Let your hand strike me and my family, but do not let the plague remain on your people.”
18 Then the angel of the Lord gave orders to Gad to say to David that he was to go and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
So the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and build an altar for Yahweh at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 And David went up, as Gad had said in the name of the Lord.
So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of Yahweh.
20 And Ornan, turning back, saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him went to a secret place. Now Ornan was crushing his grain.
While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel. He and his four sons with him hid themselves.
21 And when David came, Ornan, looking, saw him, and came out from the grain-floor and went down on his face to the earth before him.
When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David. He left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
22 Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place where this grain-floor is, so that I may put up an altar here to the Lord: let me have it for its full price; so that this disease may be stopped among the people.
Then David said to Ornan, “Sell me this threshing floor, so I can build an altar for Yahweh. I will pay the full price, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”
23 And Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems right to him. See, I give you the oxen for burned offerings and the grain-cleaning instruments for fire-wood, and the grain for the meal offering; I give it all.
Ornan said to David, “Take it as your own, my master the king. Do with it what is good in your sight. Look, I will give you oxen for burnt offerings, threshing sledges for wood, and wheat for the grain offering; I will give it all to you.”
24 And King David said to Ornan, No; I will certainly give you the full price for it, because I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or give a burned offering without payment.
King David said to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not take what is yours and offer it as a burnt offering to Yahweh if it costs me nothing.”
25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.
So David paid six hundred shekels of gold for the place.
26 And David put up an altar there to the Lord, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings with prayers to the Lord; and he gave him an answer from heaven, sending fire on the altar of burned offering.
David built an altar for Yahweh there and offered on it burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on Yahweh, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar for burnt offerings.
27 Then the Lord gave orders to the angel, and he put back his sword into its cover.
Then Yahweh gave an order to the angel, and the angel put his sword back into its sheath.
28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had given him an answer on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made an offering there.
When David saw that Yahweh had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he performed the sacrifice there at that same time.
29 For the House of the Lord, which Moses had made in the waste land, and the altar of burned offerings, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
Now at that time, Yahweh's tabernacle, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar for burnt offerings, were at the high place at Gibeon.
30 But David was not able to go before it to get directions from the Lord, so great was his fear of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
However, David could not go there to ask for God's direction, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.
