1 Chronicles 21
1 An adversary arose against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
And the Accuser stood up against Israel, and incited David to count 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 Beer-sheba' even to Dan, and bring their number to me, that I may know it.
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?”
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 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 remained firm against Joab; and Joab went out, and moved about throughout all Israel, and came [back] 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 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 But Levi and Benjamin were not counted among them, for the king's command had disgusted Joab.
But Levi and Benjamin did he not count among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
7 God was offended by this action, so he attacked Israel.
And this thing was displeasing in the eyes of God, and 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, 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 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 hath said the Lord, Three things do I offer thee: choose for thyself one of them, and I will 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 hath said the Lord, Select for thyself,
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.”
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 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 then into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are very great; but 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 in 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; 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 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 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 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, 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 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.
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 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of Yahweh.
And David went up by the word of Gad, which he had spoken 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 he called on 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 spoke to the angel, and he put back his sword into its sheath.
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 on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then did he sacrifice 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.
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 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 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.
