1 Chronicles 21
1 An adversary arose against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2 David said to Joab and to the commanders of the army, “Go, count the people of Israel from Beersheba to Dan and report back to me, that I may know their number.”
And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people: 'Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them.'
3 Joab said, “May Yahweh make his army a hundred times greater than it is. But my master the king, do they not all serve my master? Why does my master want this? Why bring guilt on Israel?”
And Joab said: 'The LORD make His people a hundred times so many more as they are; but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel?'
4 But the king's word was enforced against Joab. So Joab left and went throughout all Israel. Then he came back to Jerusalem.
Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
5 Then Joab reported the total of the count of the fighting men to David. There were in Israel 1,100,000 men who drew the sword. Judah alone had 470,000 soldiers.
And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword; and Judah was four hundred three-score and ten thousand men that drew sword.
6 But Levi and Benjamin were not counted among them, for the king's command had disgusted Joab.
But Levi and Benjamin he did not number among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
7 God was offended by this action, so he attacked Israel.
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He smote Israel.
8 David said to God, “I have greatly sinned by doing this. Now take away your servant's guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”
And David said unto God: 'I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing; but now, put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.'
9 Yahweh told Gad, David's prophet,
And the LORD spoke unto Gad, David's seer, saying:
10 “Go say to David, 'This is what Yahweh says: I am giving you three choices. Choose one of them.'”
'Go and speak unto David, saying: Thus saith the LORD: I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.'
11 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Yahweh says this, 'Choose one of these:
So Gad came to David, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the LORD: Take which thou wilt:
12 either three years of famine, three months being pursued by your enemies and being caught by their swords, or else three days of Yahweh's sword, that is, a plague in the land, with the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the land of Israel.' Now then, decide what answer I should take to the one who sent me.”
either three years of famine; or three months to be swept away before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to Him that sent me.'
13 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress! Let me fall into the hand of Yahweh rather than into the hand of man, for his merciful actions are very great.”
And David said unto Gad: 'I am in a great strait; let me fall now into the hand of the LORD, for very great are His mercies; and let me not fall into the hand of man.'
14 So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand people died.
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy it, Yahweh watched and changed his mind about the harm. He said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now draw back your hand.” At that time the angel of Yahweh was standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was about to destroy, the LORD beheld, and He repented Him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel: 'It is enough; now stay thy hand.' And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 David looked up and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand raised over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, lay facedown on the ground.
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD standing between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
17 David said to God, “Is it not I that commanded that the army be numbered? I did this wicked thing. But these sheep, what have they done? Yahweh my God! Let your hand strike me and my family, but do not let the plague remain on your people.”
And David said unto God: 'Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let Thy hand, I pray Thee, O LORD my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against Thy people, that they should be plagued.'
18 So the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and build an altar for Yahweh at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of Yahweh.
And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD.
20 While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel. He and his four sons with him hid themselves.
And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons that were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
21 When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David. He left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed down to David with his face to the ground.
22 Then David said to Ornan, “Sell me this threshing floor, so I can build an altar for Yahweh. I will pay the full price, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”
Then David said to Ornan: 'Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the LORD; for the full price shalt thou give it me; that the plague may be stayed from the people.'
23 Ornan said to David, “Take it as your own, my master the king. Do with it what is good in your sight. Look, I will give you oxen for burnt offerings, threshing sledges for wood, and wheat for the grain offering; I will give it all to you.”
And Ornan said unto David: 'Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes; lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing-instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal-offering; I give it all'
24 King David said to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not take what is yours and offer it as a burnt offering to Yahweh if it costs me nothing.”
And king David said to Ornan: 'Nay, but I will verily buy it for the full price; for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost.'
25 So David paid six hundred shekels of gold for the place.
So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
26 David built an altar for Yahweh there and offered on it burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on Yahweh, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar for burnt offerings.
And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.
27 Then Yahweh gave an order to the angel, and the angel put his sword back into its sheath.
And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword back into the sheath thereof.
28 When David saw that Yahweh had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he performed the sacrifice there at that same time.
At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.
29 Now at that time, Yahweh's tabernacle, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar for burnt offerings, were at the high place at Gibeon.
For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
30 However, David could not go there to ask for God's direction, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.
But David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was terrified because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
