< 1 Chronicles 21 >
1 Then Satan stands up against Israel, and persuades David to number Israel,
And the Accuser stood up against Israel, and incited David to count Israel.
2 and David says to Joab and to the heads of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beer-Sheba even to Dan, and bring [the account] to me, and I know their number.”
And David said to Joab, and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba' even to Dan, and bring their number to me, that I may know it.
3 And Joab says, “YHWH adds to His people as they are one hundred times; are they not, my lord, O king, all of them for servants to my lord? Why does my lord seek this? Why is he for a cause of guilt to Israel?”
Then said Joab, May the Lord add unto his people, how many soever they be, a hundred-fold more: are they not all, my lord the king, my lord's servants? why then will my lord require this thing? why shall it be a cause of guiltiness for Israel?
4 And the word of the king [is] severe against Joab, and Joab goes out, and goes up and down in all Israel, and comes to Jerusalem.
Nevertheless the king's word remained firm against Joab; and Joab went out, and moved about throughout all Israel, and came [back] to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gives the account of the numbering of the people to David, and all Israel is one million and one hundred thousand, each drawing sword, and Judah [is] four hundred and seventy thousand, each drawing sword.
And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto David: and there were [in] all Israel a thousand times thousand and one hundred thousand men that drew the sword: and [of] Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew the sword.
6 And he has not numbered Levi and Benjamin in their midst, for the word of the king was abominable with Joab.
But Levi and Benjamin did he not count among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
7 And it is evil in the eyes of God concerning this thing, and He strikes Israel,
And this thing was displeasing in the eyes of God, and he smote Israel.
8 and David says to God, “I have sinned exceedingly in that I have done this thing; and now, please cause the iniquity of Your servant to pass away, for I have acted very foolishly.”
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I beseech thee, cause the iniquity of thy servant to pass away; for I have acted very foolishly.
9 And YHWH speaks to Gad, seer of David, saying,
And the Lord spoke unto Gad, David's seer, saying,
10 “Go, and you have spoken to David, saying, Thus said YHWH: I am extending three [choices] to you; choose one of these for yourself, and I do [it] to you.”
Go and speak unto David, saying, Thus hath said the Lord, Three things do I offer thee: choose for thyself one of them, and I will do it unto thee.
11 And Gad comes to David and says to him, “Thus said YHWH: Take for yourself—
So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus hath said the Lord, Select for thyself,
12 either famine for three years, or three months to be consumed from the face of your adversaries (even [for] the sword of your enemies to overtake), or three days of the sword of YHWH (even pestilence in the land, and a messenger of YHWH destroying in all the border of Israel); and now, see; what word do I return to Him who is sending me?”
Whether there shall be three years famine; or three months, to be destroyed before thy adversaries, so that the sword of thy enemies overtake thee; or that during three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, shall be in the land, and an angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the boundaries of Israel? And now reflect what word I shall bring back to him that hath sent me.
13 And David says to Gad, “I am greatly distressed, please let me fall into the hand of YHWH, for His mercies [are] very many, and do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall then into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are very great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.
14 And YHWH gives a pestilence in Israel, and there falls from Israel seventy thousand men,
So the Lord sent a pestilence in Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 and God sends a messenger to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he is destroying, YHWH has seen, and is comforted concerning the calamity, and says to the messenger who [is] destroying, “Enough now, cease your hand.” And the messenger of YHWH is standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite,
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was destroying, the Lord looked on, and he bethought himself of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough: now stay thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 and David lifts up his eyes, and sees the messenger of YHWH standing between the earth and the heavens, and his sword [is] drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem, and David falls, and the elderly, covered with sackcloth, on their faces.
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and the heavens, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then fell David, with the elders wrapt in sackcloth, upon their faces.
17 And David says to God, “Did I not command to number the people? Indeed, it [is] I who have sinned, and done great evil: and these, the flock, what did they do? O YHWH, my God, please let Your hand be on me, and on the house of my father, and not on Your people—to be plagued.”
And David said unto God, Was it not I that ordered to count the people? and I am the one that have sinned and have done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house, but not against thy people, that there should be a plague.
18 And the messenger of YHWH commanded to Gad to say to David, “Surely David goes up to raise an altar to YHWH in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”
And the angel of the Lord spoke to Gad to say to David, that David should go up, to erect an altar unto the Lord on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 And David goes up by the word of Gad, that he spoke in the Name of YHWH.
And David went up by the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord.
20 And Ornan turns back and sees the messenger, and his four sons [are] with him hiding themselves, and Ornan is threshing wheat.
And when Ornan turned back, and saw the angel, then did he and his four sons with him hide themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
21 And David comes to Ornan, and Ornan looks attentively and sees David, and goes out from the threshing-floor, and bows himself to David—face to the earth.
And as David came up to Ornan, Ornan looked up and saw David; and he went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
22 And David says to Ornan, “Give the place of the threshing-floor to me, and I build an altar to YHWH in it; give it to me for full price, and the plague is restrained from the people.”
Then said David to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the Lord: for the full price shalt thou give it unto me, so that the plague may be stayed from the people.”
23 And Ornan says to David, “Take [it] to yourself, and my lord the king does that which is good in his eyes; see, I have given the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for a present; I have given the whole.”
And Ornan said unto David, Take it for thyself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes: lo, I give the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing-rollers for wood, and the wheat for the meat-offering; the whole do I give [thee].
24 And King David says to Ornan, “No, for I surely buy [it] for full price; for I do not lift up that which is yours to YHWH, so as to offer a burnt-offering without cost.”
And king David said to Ornan, No: but I will surely buy it at the full value; for I will not take what is thine for the Lord, so as to offer burnt-offerings without paying therefore.
25 And David gives to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold [in] weight for the place;
So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
26 and David builds an altar to YHWH there, and offers burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and calls to YHWH, and He answers him from the heavens with fire on the altar of the burnt-offering.
And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and he called on the Lord: and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.
27 And YHWH speaks to the messenger, and he turns back his sword to its sheath.
And the Lord spoke to the angel, and he put back his sword into its sheath.
28 At that time, when David sees that YHWH has answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrifices there;
At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then did he sacrifice there.
29 and the Dwelling Place of YHWH that Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt-offering, [are] at that time at a high place in Gibeon;
But the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt-offering, were at that time in the high-place at Gib'on.
30 and David is not able to go before it to seek God, for he has been afraid because of the sword of the messenger of YHWH.
But David was not able to go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.