1 Chronicles 21
1 Now Satan rose up against Israel, and he incited David so that he would number Israel.
And the devil stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2 And David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people: “Go, and number Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan. And bring me the number, so that I may know it.”
And king David said to Joab and to the captains of the forces, Go, number Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, and bring me [the account], and I shall know their number.
3 And Joab responded: “May the Lord increase his people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all your servants? Why would my lord seek this thing, which may be imputed as a sin to Israel?”
And Joab said, May the Lord add to his people, a hundred-fold as many as they [are], and [let] the eyes of my lord the king see [it]: all [are] the servants of my lord. Why does my lord seek this thing? [do it not], lest it become a sin to Israel.
4 But the word of the king prevailed instead. And Joab went away, and he traveled around, through all of Israel. And he returned to Jerusalem.
Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab; and Joab went out and passed through all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
5 And he gave to David the number of those whom he had surveyed. And the entire number of Israel was found to be one million and one hundred thousand men who could draw the sword; but from Judah, there were four hundred and seventy thousand men of war.
And Joab gave the number of the mustering of the people to David: and all Israel was a million and a hundred thousand men that drew sword: and the sons of Juda [were] four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.
6 But Levi and Benjamin he did not number. For Joab executed the orders of the king unwillingly.
But he numbered not Levi and Benjamin among them; for the word of the king was painful to Joab.
7 Then God was displeased with what had been ordered, and so he struck Israel.
And [there was] evil in the sight of the Lord respecting this thing; and he struck Israel.
8 And David said to God: “I have sinned exceedingly in doing this. I beg you take away the iniquity of your servant. For I have acted unwisely.”
And David said to God, I have sinned exceedingly, in that I have done this thing: and now, I pray you, remove the sin of your servant; for I have been exceedingly foolish.
9 And the Lord spoke to Gad, the seer of David, saying:
And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer, saying,
10 “Go, and speak to David, and tell him: Thus says the Lord: I give to you the option of three things. Choose the one that you will want, and I will do it to you.”
Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says the Lord, I bring three things upon you: choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.
11 And when Gad had gone to David, he said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Choose what you will want:
And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Choose for yourself,
12 Either three years of famine, or three months for you to flee from your enemies, unable to escape from their sword, or three days for the sword of the Lord and a pestilence to turn within the land, with the Angel of the Lord killing in every part of Israel. Now therefore, see what I should respond to him who sent me.”
either three years of famine, or that you should flee three months from the face of your enemies, and the sword of your enemies [shall be employed] to destroy you, or that the sword of the Lord and pestilence [should be] three days in the land, and the angel of the Lord [shall be] destroying in all the inheritance of Israel. And now consider what I shall answer to him that sent the message.
13 And David said to Gad: “There are difficulties pressing upon me from every side. But it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are many, than into the hands of men.”
And David said to Gad, They are very hard for me, even [all] the three: let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies [are] very abundant, and let me not fall by any means into the hands of man.
14 Therefore, the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel. And there fell from Israel seventy thousand men.
So the Lord brought pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 Also, he sent an Angel to Jerusalem, so that he might strike it. And while he was striking, the Lord saw and took pity over the magnitude of the harm. And he commanded the Angel who was striking: “It is enough. Now let your hand cease.” And the Angel of the Lord was standing beside the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord saw, and repented for the evil, and said to the angel that was destroying, Let it suffice you; withhold your hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite.
16 And David, lifting up his eyes, saw the Angel of the Lord, standing between heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand, turned toward Jerusalem. And both he and those greater by birth, being clothed in haircloth, fell prone upon the ground.
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord, standing between the earth and the heaven, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem: and David and the elders clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
17 And David said to God: “Am I not the one who ordered that the people be numbered? It is I who sinned; it is I who did evil. This flock, what does it deserve? O Lord my God, I beg you to let your hand be turned against me and against the house of my father. But let not your people be struck down.”
And David said to God, [Was it] not I [that] gave orders to number the people? and I am the guilty one; I have greatly sinned: but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord God, let your hand be upon me, and upon my father's house, and not on your people for destruction, O Lord!
18 Then the Angel of the Lord instructed Gad to tell David that he should ascend and build an altar to the Lord God on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And the angel of the Lord told Gad to tell David, that he should go up to erect and altar to the Lord, in the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite.
19 Therefore, David ascended, in accord with the word of Gad, which he had spoken to him in the name of the Lord.
And David went up according to the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord.
20 Now when Ornan had looked up and seen the Angel, he and his four sons hid themselves. For at that time, he was threshing wheat upon the floor.
And Orna turned and saw the king; and he hid himself and his four sons with him. Now Orna was threshing wheat.
21 Then, as David was approaching Ornan, Ornan saw him, and he went out from the threshing floor to meet him. And he reverenced him prone on the ground.
And David came to Orna; and Orna came forth from the threshing floor, and did obeisance to David with his face to the ground.
22 And David said to him: “Give this place of your threshing floor to me, so that I may build an altar to the Lord upon it. And you shall accept from me as much money as it is worth, so that the plague may cease from the people.”
And David said to Orna, Give me your place of the threshing floor, and I will build upon it an altar to the Lord: give it me for its worth in money, and the plague shall cease from [among] the people.
23 But Ornan said to David: “Take it, and may my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Moreover, I give the oxen also as a holocaust, and the plow for wood, and the wheat for a sacrifice. I will offer all freely.”
And Orna said to David, Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is right in his eyes: see, I have given the calves for a whole burnt offering, and the plow for wood, and the corn for a meat-offering; I have given all.
24 And king David said to him: “By no means shall it be so. Instead, I will give money to you, as much as it is worth. For I must not take it from you, and thereby offer to the Lord holocausts that cost nothing.”
And king David said to Orna, Nay; for I will surely buy it for its worth in money: for I will not take your property for the Lord, to offer a whole burnt offering to the Lord without cost [to myself].
25 Therefore, David gave Ornan, for the place, the very just weight of six hundred shekels of gold.
And David gave to Orna for his place six hundred shekels of gold [by] weight.
26 And he built an altar to the Lord there. And he offered holocausts and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord. And he heeded him by sending fire from heaven upon the altar of the holocaust.
And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered up whole burnt offerings and peace-offerings: and he cried to the Lord, and he answered him by fire out of heaven on the altar of whole burnt offerings, and [it] consumed the whole burnt offering.
27 And the Lord instructed the Angel, and he turned his sword back into its sheath.
And the Lord spoke to the angel; and he put up the sword into its sheath.
28 Then, seeing that the Lord had heeded him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, David immediately immolated victims there.
At that time when David saw that the Lord answered him in the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite, he also sacrificed there.
29 But the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of holocausts, were at that time on the high place of Gibeon.
And the tabernacle of the Lord which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of whole burnt offerings, [were] at that time in the high place at Gabaon.
30 And David was unable to go to the altar, so that he might pray to God there. For he had been struck with an exceedingly great fear, seeing the sword of the Angel of the Lord.
And David could not go before it to enquire of God; for he hasted not because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
