1 Chronicles 21
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and tempted David to number Israel.
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].
2 And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
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.”
3 And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times more than they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?
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.”
4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
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,
5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. And all they of Israel were a million and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.
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.
6 But Levi and Benjamin he counted not among them: for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
Joab did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he was disgusted with what the king had commanded.
7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.
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.
8 And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
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.”
9 And the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,
Then Yahweh said to Gad, David’s prophet,
10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it to thee.
“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.”
11 So Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee
So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You can choose one of these [punishments]:
12 Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while the sword of thy enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the land of Israel. Now therefore consider thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
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.”
13 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
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].”
14 So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
So Yahweh sent a plague on [the people of] Israel, and 70,000 of them died because of it.
15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thy hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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]!”
16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
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.
17 And David said to God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be afflicted.
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].”
18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and build an altar to the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
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.
19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD.
So [after Gad told] David, [he] obeyed the message that Yahweh [MTY] had given to Gad, [and he went up there].
20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
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.
21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
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.
22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar in it to the LORD: thou shalt grant it to me for the full price: that the plague may be restrained from the people.
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.”
23 And Ornan said to 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 also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.
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.”
24 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 burnt offerings without cost.
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.”
25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
So David paid Araunah 600 pieces of gold for the whole area.
26 And David built there an altar to 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.
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.
27 And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath.
Then Yahweh spoke to the angel, and told him to put his sword back into its sheath. [So the angel did that].
28 At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.
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.
29 For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.
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].
30 But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
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.
