2 Samuel 24

1 And the anger of YHWH adds to burn against Israel, and [an adversary] moves David about them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

2 And the king says to Joab, head of the host that [is] with him, “Now go to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, and inspect the people; then I have known the number of the people.”

3 And Joab says to the king, “Indeed, your God YHWH adds to the people, as they are, one hundred times, and the eyes of my lord the king are seeing; and my lord the king, why is he desirous of this thing?”

4 And the word of the king is severe toward Joab, and against the heads of the force, and Joab goes out, and the heads of the force, [from] before the king to inspect the people, even Israel;

5 and they pass over the Jordan, and encamp in Aroer, on the right of the city that [is] in the midst of the Brook of Gad, and to Jazer,

6 and they come to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-Hodshi, and they come to Dan-Jaan, and around to Sidon,

7 and they come to the fortress of Tyre, and all the cities of the Hivite, and of the Canaanite, and go out to the south of Judah, to Beer-Sheba.

8 And they go to and fro through all the land, and come in to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days,

9 and Joab gives the account of the inspection of the people to the king, and Israel is eight hundred thousand men of valor, drawing sword, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand men.

10 And the heart of David strikes him, after that he has numbered the people, and David says to YHWH, “I have greatly sinned in that which I have done, and now, O YHWH, please cause the iniquity of Your servant to pass away, for I have acted very foolishly.”

11 And David rises in the morning, and the word of YHWH has been to Gad the prophet, seer of David, saying,

12 “Go, and you have spoken to David, Thus said YHWH: I am lifting up three [choices] for you, choose one of them, and I do [it] to you.”

13 And Gad comes to David, and declares [it] to him, and says to him, “Does seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or are you fleeing before your adversary [for] three months—and he is pursuing you? Or is there pestilence [for] three days in your land? Now, know and see what word I take back to Him sending me.”

14 And David says to Gad, “I have great distress; please let us fall into the hand of YHWH, for His mercies [are] many, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

15 And YHWH gives a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there dies of the people, from Dan even to Beer-Sheba, seventy thousand men,

16 and the messenger puts forth his hand to Jerusalem to destroy it, and YHWH sighs concerning the calamity, and says to the messenger who is destroying among the people, “Enough, now, cease your hand”; and the messenger of YHWH was near the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 And David speaks to YHWH when he sees the messenger who is striking among the people, and says, “Behold, I have sinned, indeed, I have done perversely; and these—the flock—what have they done? Please let Your hand be on me and on the house of my father.”

18 And Gad comes to David on that day and says to him, “Go up, raise an altar to YHWH in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite”;

19 and David goes up, according to the word of Gad, as YHWH commanded.

20 And Araunah looks, and sees the king and his servants passing over to him, and Araunah goes out and bows himself to the king [with] his face to the earth.

21 And Araunah says, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David says, “To buy the threshing-floor from you, to build an altar to YHWH, and the plague is restrained from the people.”

22 And Araunah says to David, “Let my lord the king take [it] and cause that which is good in his eyes to ascend; see, [here are] the oxen for a burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments, and the instruments of the oxen, for wood”;

23 Araunah has given the whole [as] a king to a king; and Araunah says to the king, “Your God YHWH accepts you.”

24 And the king says to Araunah, “No, for I surely buy from you for a price, and I do not cause burnt-offerings to ascend to my God YHWH for nothing”; and David buys the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver,

25 and David builds an altar to YHWH there, and causes burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to ascend, and YHWH accepts the plea for the land, and the plague is restrained from Israel.