< 1 Chronicles 21 >
1 And there standeth up an adversary against Israel, and persuadeth David to number Israel,
An adversary arose against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
2 And David saith unto Joab, and unto the heads of the people, 'Go, number Israel from Beer-Sheba even unto Dan, and bring unto me, and I know their number.'
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.”
3 And Joab saith, 'Jehovah doth add to His people as they are a hundred times; are they not, my lord, O king, all of them to my lord for servants? why doth my lord seek this? why is he for a cause of guilt to Israel?'
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?”
4 And the word of the king [is] severe against Joab, and Joab goeth out, and goeth up and down in all Israel, and cometh in to Jerusalem.
But the king's word was enforced against Joab. So Joab left and went throughout all Israel. Then he came back to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab giveth the account of the numbering of the people unto David, and all Israel is a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand, each drawing sword, and Judah [is] four hundred and seventy thousand, each drawing sword.
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.
6 And Levi and Benjamin he hath not numbered in their midst, for the word of the king was abominable with Joab.
But Levi and Benjamin were not counted among them, for the king's command had disgusted Joab.
7 And it is evil in the eyes of God concerning this thing, and He smiteth Israel,
God was offended by this action, so he attacked Israel.
8 and David saith unto God, 'I have sinned exceedingly, in that I have done this thing; and now, cause to pass away, I pray Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly.'
David said to God, “I have greatly sinned by doing this. Now take away your servant's guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 And Jehovah speaketh unto Gad, seer of David, saying:
Yahweh told Gad, David's prophet,
10 'Go, and thou hast spoken unto David, saying, Thus said Jehovah, Three — I am stretching out unto thee; choose for thee one of these, and I do [it] to thee.'
“Go say to David, 'This is what Yahweh says: I am giving you three choices. Choose one of them.'”
11 And Gad cometh in unto David, and saith to him, 'Thus said Jehovah, Take for thee —
So Gad went to David and said to him, “Yahweh says this, 'Choose one of these:
12 either for three years — famine, or three months to be consumed from the face of thine adversaries, even the sword of thine enemies to overtake, or three days the sword of Jehovah, even pestilence in the land, and a messenger of Jehovah destroying in all the border of Israel; and now, see; what word do I return to Him who is sending me?'
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.”
13 And David saith unto Gad, 'I am greatly distressed, let me fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah, for very many [are] His mercies, and into the hand of man let me not fall.'
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.”
14 And Jehovah giveth a pestilence in Israel, and there fall of Israel seventy thousand men,
So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand people died.
15 and God sendeth a messenger to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he is destroying Jehovah hath seen, and is comforted concerning the evil, and saith to the messenger who [is] destroying, 'Enough, now, cease thy hand.' And the messenger of Jehovah is standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite,
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.
16 and David lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the messenger of Jehovah standing between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem, and David falleth, and the elders, covered with sackcloth, on their faces.
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.
17 And David saith unto God, 'Did not I — I say to number the people? Yea, I it [is] who have sinned, and done great evil: and these, the flock, what did they? O Jehovah, my God, let, I pray Thee, Thy hand be on me, and on the house of my father, and not on Thy people — to be plagued.'
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.”
18 And the messenger of Jehovah spake unto Gad, saying for David, 'Surely David doth go up to raise an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.'
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.
19 And David goeth up by the word of Gad, that he spake in the name of Jehovah.
So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of Yahweh.
20 And Ornan turneth back, and seeth the messenger, and his four sons [are] with him, hiding themselves, and Ornan is threshing wheat.
While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel. He and his four sons with him hid themselves.
21 And David cometh in unto Ornan, and Ornan looketh attentively, and seeth David, and goeth out from the threshing-floor, and boweth himself to David — face to the earth.
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.
22 And David saith unto Ornan, 'Give to me the place of the threshing-floor, and I build in it an altar to Jehovah; for full silver give it to me, and the plague is restrained from the people.'
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.”
23 And Ornan saith unto David, 'Take to thee — and my lord the king doth that which is good in his eyes: see, I have given the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for a present; the whole I have given.'
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.”
24 And king David saith to Ornan, 'Nay, for I surely buy for full silver; for I do not lift up that which is thine to Jehovah, so as to offer a burnt-offering without cost.'
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.”
25 And David giveth to Ornan for the place shekels of gold [in] weight six hundred;
So David paid six hundred shekels of gold for the place.
26 and David buildeth there an altar to Jehovah, and offereth burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and calleth unto Jehovah, and He answereth him with fire from the heavens on the altar of the burnt-offering.
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.
27 And Jehovah saith to the messenger, and he turneth back his sword unto its sheath.
Then Yahweh gave an order to the angel, and the angel put his sword back into its sheath.
28 At that time when David seeth that Jehovah hath answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificeth there;
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.
29 and the tabernacle of Jehovah that Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt-offering, [are] at that time in a high place, in Gibeon;
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.
30 and David is not able to go before it to seek God, for he hath been afraid because of the sword of the messenger of Jehovah.
However, David could not go there to ask for God's direction, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.