1 Chronicles 21
1 And Satan rose up against Israel: and moved David to number Israel.
Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
2 And David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people: Go, and number Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, and bring me the number of them that I may know it.
So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”
3 And Joab answered: The Lord make his people a hundred times more than they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all thy servants: why doth my lord seek this thing, which may be imputed as a sin to Israel?
But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
4 But the king’s word rather prevailed: and Joab departed, and went through all Israel: and returned to Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem.
5 And he gave David the number of them, whom he had surveyed: and all the number of Israel was found to be eleven hundred thousand men that drew the sword: and of Juda four hundred and seventy thousand fighting men.
And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.
6 But Levi and Benjamin he did not number: for Joab unwillingly executed the king’s orders.
But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.
7 And God was displeased with this thing that was commanded: and he struck Israel.
This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.
8 And David said to God: I have sinned exceedingly in doing this: I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done foolishly.
Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying:
And the LORD instructed Gad, David’s seer,
10 Go, and speak to David, and tell him: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee the choice of three things: choose one which thou wilt, and I will do it to thee.
“Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’”
11 And when Gad was come to David, he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: choose which thou wilt:
So Gad went and said to David, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You must choose
12 Either three years’ famine: or three months to flee from thy enemies, and not to be able to escape their sword: or three days to have the sword of the Lord, and pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying in all the coasts of Israel: now therefore see what I shall answer him who sent me.
between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”
13 And David said to Gad: I am on every side in a great strait: 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.
David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”
14 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.
15 And he sent an angel to Jerusalem, to strike it: and as he was striking it, the Lord beheld, and took pity for the greatness of the evil: and said to the angel that destroyed: It is enough, now stop thy hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the thrashing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan 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 against Jerusalem: and both he and the ancients clothed in haircloth, fell down flat on the ground.
When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
17 And David said to God: Am not I he that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned: it is I that have done the evil: but as for this flock, what hath it deserved? O Lord my God, let thy hand be turned, I beseech thee, upon me, and upon my father’s house: and let not thy people be destroyed.
And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.”
18 And the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David, to go up, and build an altar to the Lord God in the thrashingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 And David went up, according to the word of Gad, which he spoke to him in the name of the Lord.
So David went up at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.
20 Now when Ornan looked up, and saw the angel, he and his four sons hid themselves: for at that time he was thrashing wheat in the floor.
Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.
21 And as David was coming to Ornan, Ornan saw him, and went out of the thrashingfloor to meet him, and bowed down to him with his face to the ground.
David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David.
22 And David said to him: Give me this place of thy thrashingfloor, that I may build therein an altar to the Lord: but thou shalt take of me as much money as it is worth, that the plague may cease from the people.
Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”
23 And Ornan said to David: Take it, and let my lord the king do all that pleaseth him: and moreover the oxen also I give for a holocaust, and the drays for wood, and the wheat for the sacrifice: I will give it all willingly.
Ornan said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever seems good. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I will give it all.”
24 And king David said to him: It shall not be so, but I will give thee money as much as it is worth: for I must not take it from thee, and so offer to the Lord holocausts free cost.
“No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
25 So David gave to Ornan for the place, six hundred sicles of gold of just weight.
So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site.
26 And he built there an altar to the Lord: and he offered holocausts, and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and he heard him by sending Are from heaven upon the altar of the holocaust.
And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
27 And the Lord commanded the angel: and he put up his sword again into the sheath.
Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath.
28 And David seeing that the Lord had heard him in the thrashingfloor of Oman the Jebusite, forthwith offered victims there.
At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there.
29 But the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the desert, and the altar of holocausts, was at that time in the high place of Gabaon.
For the tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were presently at the high place in Gibeon,
30 And David could not go to the altar there to pray to God: for he was seized with an exceeding great fear, seeing the sword of the angel of the Lord.
but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
