2 Samuel 24

1 Yahweh was angry with the Israeli people again, so he incited David to cause trouble for them. He said to David, “Send [some men] to count the people of Israel and Judah.”

And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them, saying: 'Go, number Israel and Judah.'

2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army, “Go [with your officers] through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan [city in the far north] to Beersheba [town in the far south], and count the people, in order that I may know how many people [there are who are able to be soldiers in the army].”

And the king said to Joab the captain of the host that was with him: 'Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.'

3 But Joab replied to the king, “Your Majesty, I wish/desire that Yahweh our God will cause there to be 100 times as many people [in Israel] as there are now, and I wish/desire that you would see that happen [before you die]. But why do you want us to do this?”

And Joab said unto the king: 'Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it; but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?'

4 But the king commanded Joab and his officers to do it. So they left the king and went out to count the people of Israel.

Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5 They crossed the Jordan [River] and set up their tents south of Aroer [town], in the middle of the valley, in the territory [that was given to the tribe] of Gad. From there they went [north] to Jazer [city]

And they passed over the Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and unto Jazer;

6 Then they went [north] to [the] Gilead [region] and to Kadesh [city], in the land where the Heth people-group lived. Then they went to Dan [city in the far north of Israel], and then further west, to Sidon [city near the Mediterranean Sea].

then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Zidon,

7 Then they went [south] to Tyre, a city with high walls around it, and to all the cities where the Hiv and Canaan people-groups live. Then they went [east] to Beersheba, in the southern part of Judah.

and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba.

8 After nine months and 20 days, when they had finished going throughout the land [and counting the people], they returned to Jerusalem.

So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 They reported to the king the number of people that they had counted. There were 800,000 men in Israel and 500,000 men in Judah who were able to become soldiers in the army [MTY].

And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 But after David’s men had counted the people, David regretted [IDM] that he had told them to do that. [One night] he said to Yahweh, “I have committed a very big sin. Please forgive me, because what I have done is very foolish.”

And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD: 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, O LORD, put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.'

11 When David got up the next morning, Yahweh gave a message to the prophet Gad. He said to him,

And when David rose up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying:

12 “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 unto David: Thus saith the LORD: I lay upon thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.'

13 So Gad went to David and told him [what Yahweh had said]. He said to David, “You can choose whether there will be three years of famine in your land, or three months of your [army] running away from your enemies, or three days when there will be a (plague/very severe illness) in your land. You think about it and choose [which one you want, and tell me], and I will return to Yahweh and tell him what your answer is.”

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him: 'Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to Him that sent Me.'

14 David said to Gad, “All those are very terrible things for me to choose between! 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 unto Gad: 'I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man.'

15 So Yahweh sent a plague on the Israeli people. It started that morning and did not stop until the time that he had chosen/set. All over the land, from Dan to Beersheba, there were 70,000 Israelis who died [because of the plague].

So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

16 When [Yahweh’s] angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy [the people by this plague], Yahweh changed his mind about punishing [any more] people. He said to the angel who was killing them [with the plague], “Stop what you are doing [IDM]! That is enough!” [When he said that, ] the angel was standing at the ground where Araunah, from the Jebus people-group, threshed grain.

And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented Him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people: 'It is enough; now stay thy hand.' And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel who was causing the people to become sick and die, he said to Yahweh, “Truly, I am the one who has committed the sin. I have done a very wicked thing, but these people are [as innocent as] sheep [MET]. They have certainly not [RHQ] done anything [that is wrong]. So you should punish [IDM] me and my family, [not these people]!”

And David spoke unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said: 'Lo, I have sinned, and I have done iniquitously; but these sheep, what have they done? let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my father's house.'

18 That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up to the place where Araunah threshes grain, and build an altar to [worship] Yahweh there.”

And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him: 'Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.'

19 So David did what Gad told him to do, which was what Yahweh had commanded, [and he went up there].

And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the LORD commanded.

20 When Araunah looked down and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he prostrated himself on the ground in front of the king, with his face touching the ground.

And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him; and Araunah went out, and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, “Your Majesty, why have you come to me?” David replied, “[I have come] to buy this ground where you thresh grain, in order to build an altar to Yahweh [and offer sacrifices on it], in order that he will stop the plague.”

And Araunah said: 'Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?' And David said: 'To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.'

22 Araunah replied to David, “Your Majesty, offer to Yahweh whatever you wish/want. Here, take my oxen to use for the offering that will be completely burned on the altar. And here, take their yokes and the boards [that I use] for the threshing, [and use them] for the wood that you will burn.

And Araunah said unto David: 'Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him; behold the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-instruments and the furniture of the oxen for the wood.'

23 I, Araunah, am giving all this to you, the king.” Then he said, “I desire/hope that Yahweh our God will accept your offering.”

All this did Araunah the king give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king: 'The LORD thy God accept thee.'

24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, [I will not take these things as a gift.] I will pay you for it. I will not take sacrifices that have cost me nothing, and offer them to Yahweh to be completely burned on the altar.” So he paid 50 pieces of silver to Araunah for the oxen and the ground.

And the king said unto Araunah: 'Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the LORD my God which cost me nothing.' So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 Then David built an altar to Yahweh, and he offered [the oxen] to be completely burned on the altar, and he also offered sacrifices to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Then, Yahweh answered David’s prayers, and he caused the plague in Israel to end.

And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.