1 Chronicles 21
1 Satan decided to cause the Israeli people to have trouble. So he incited David to find out how many men in Israel [were able to be in the army].
And the devil stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2 So David commanded Joab and the other army commanders, “Count all the men in Israel [who are able to be in the army]. Start at Beersheba [town in the south] and go all the way to Dan [city in the north]. Then come back and report to me, in order that I may know how many men there are.”
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 But Joab replied, “Your majesty, even if Yahweh allowed us to have 100 times as many soldiers as we have now, you would [RHQ] still rule all of them. So why do you want us to do this? You will surely [RHQ] cause [all the people of] Israel to be guilty of sinning.”
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 David would not change his mind. So Joab [and his soldiers] went everywhere in Israel and in Judah, and counted the people. Then they 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 they reported to David that there were 1,100,000 men in Israel who could be in the army, and 470,000 in Judah.
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 Joab did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he was disgusted with what the king had commanded.
But he numbered not Levi and Benjamin among them; for the word of the king was painful to Joab.
7 David’s command to count the people caused God to become angry, so he [told David that he had decided to] punish [the people of] Israel.
And [there was] evil in the sight of the Lord respecting this thing; and he struck Israel.
8 Then David prayed, saying, “Yahweh, what I did was very foolish. I have sinned greatly by what I have done. So now I plead with you, please forgive me.”
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 Then Yahweh said to Gad, David’s prophet,
And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer, saying,
10 “Go and tell this to David: I am allowing you to choose one of three things [to punish you]. I will do whichever one you choose.”
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 So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You can choose one of these [punishments]:
And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Choose for yourself,
12 three years of famine [in Israel], or three months during which your armies will run away from their enemies [who will attack them with] swords, or three days during which I will send my angel to cause many people in the country to die because of a (plague/very serious illness).’ So, you must decide what I will say to answer [Yahweh, ] the one 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 David replied to Gad, “I am very distressed. But allow Yahweh to punish [MTY] me, because he is very merciful. Do not allow humans to punish me, [because they will not be merciful].”
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 So Yahweh sent a plague on [the people of] Israel, and 70,000 of them died because of it.
So the Lord brought pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 And God sent an angel to destroy the people in Jerusalem by the plague. But when the angel was standing at the ground where Araunah, from the Jebus people-group, threshed grain, Yahweh saw all the suffering that the people had endured, and he was grieved. So he said to the angel, “Stop what you are doing [IDM]! That is enough [IDM]!”
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 David looked up and saw the angel whom Yahweh had sent, standing between the sky and the ground. The angel had a sword in his hand that was pointed toward Jerusalem. Then David and the elders [of the city], who were wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, prostrated themselves on 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 David said to God, “I am [RHQ] the one who ordered the men who could be in the army to be counted. I am the one who has sinned and done what is very wrong, but these people are [as innocent as] [MET] sheep. They have certainly not [RHQ] done anything [that is wrong]. So Yahweh my God, punish [IDM] me and my family, but do not allow this plague to continue to [cause] your people [to become sick and die].”
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 who was sent by Yahweh told Gad to go up to the place where Araunah threshed grain and tell David to build an altar to [worship] Yahweh there.
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 So [after Gad told] David, [he] obeyed the message that Yahweh [MTY] had given to Gad, [and he went up there].
And David went up according to the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord.
20 While Araunah was threshing some wheat, he turned and saw the angel. His four sons who were with him [also saw the angel, and they] hid themselves.
And Orna turned and saw the king; and he hid himself and his four sons with him. Now Orna was threshing wheat.
21 Then David approached. When Araunah saw him, he left the place where he was threshing grain and prostrated himself, with his face touching 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 David said to him, “Please sell me your threshing place in order that I can build an altar here to [worship] Yahweh. Then he will stop this plague. I will pay the full price.”
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 Araunah replied, “Take it! Your majesty, do whatever you want to. I will give you the oxen [that thresh the grain] for an offering to be completely burned [on the altar]. And I will give you the threshing boards to use as wood [on the altar], and I will give you grain for a grain offering. I will give all those things to you.”
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 But the king said to Araunah, “No, [I will not take these things as a gift]. I will pay you the full price for it. I will not take things that belong to you, things that have cost me nothing and offer them as sacrifices to Yahweh to be completely burned on the altar.”
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 So David paid Araunah 600 pieces of gold for the whole area.
And David gave to Orna for his place six hundred shekels of gold [by] weight.
26 David built an altar to [worship] Yahweh there, and he offered sacrifices to be completely burned [on the altar] and sacrifices to restore fellowship [with Yahweh]. David prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh answered by sending a fire from heaven [to burn up the offerings] on the altar.
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 Then Yahweh spoke to the angel, and told him to put his sword back into its sheath. [So the angel did that].
And the Lord spoke to the angel; and he put up the sword into its sheath.
28 And when David saw that Yahweh had answered him there at the place where Araunah threshed grain [and had ended the plague], he offered sacrifices 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 Yahweh’s Sacred Tent, which Moses had commanded to be set up in the desert, and the altar for burning sacrifices completely, were at that time on a hill at Gibeon [city].
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 But David did not want to go there to request God to tell him what he wanted [him to do], because he was afraid that the angel sent from Yahweh [might strike him with] his sword.
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.
