1 Chronicles 21
1 An adversary arose against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
And the devil 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 king David said to Joab and to the captains of the forces, Go, number Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, and bring me [the account], and I shall know their number.
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, May the Lord add to his people, a hundred-fold as many as they [are], and [let] the eyes of my lord the king see [it]: all [are] the servants of my lord. Why does my lord seek this thing? [do it not], lest it become a sin to 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; and Joab went out and passed through 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 the number of the mustering of the people to David: and all Israel was a million and a hundred thousand men that drew sword: and the sons of Juda [were] four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword.
6 But Levi and Benjamin were not counted among them, for the king's command had disgusted Joab.
But he numbered not Levi and Benjamin among them; for the word of the king was painful to Joab.
7 God was offended by this action, so he attacked Israel.
And [there was] evil in the sight of the Lord respecting this thing; 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 to God, I have sinned exceedingly, in that I have done this thing: and now, I pray thee, remove the sin of thy servant; for I have been exceedingly foolish.
9 Yahweh told Gad, David's prophet,
And the Lord spoke to Gad the 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 to David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I bring three things upon thee: choose one of them for thyself, and I will do it to thee.
11 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Yahweh says this, 'Choose one of these:
And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose 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.”
either three years of famine, or that thou shouldest flee three months from the face of thine enemies, and the sword of thine enemies [shall be employed] to destroy thee, or that the sword of the Lord and pestilence [should be] three days in the land, and the angel of the Lord [shall be] destroying in all the inheritance of Israel. And now consider what I shall answer to him that sent the message.
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 to Gad, They are very hard for me, even [all] the three: let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies [are] very abundant, and let me not fall by any means into the hands of man.
14 So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand people died.
So the Lord brought 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 to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord saw, and repented for the evil, and said to the angel that was destroying, Let it suffice thee; withhold thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor of Orna 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, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem: and 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 to God, [Was it] not I [that] gave orders to number the people? and I am the guilty one; I have greatly sinned: but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord God, let thy hand be upon me, and upon my father's house, and not on thy people for destruction, O Lord!
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 told Gad to tell David, that he should go up to erect and altar to the Lord, in the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite.
19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of Yahweh.
And David went up according to the word 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 Orna turned and saw the king; and he hid himself and his four sons with him. Now Orna 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 David came to Orna; and Orna came forth from the threshing-floor, and did obeisance 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.”
And David said to Orna, Give me thy place of the threshing-floor, and I will build upon it an altar to the Lord: give it me for its worth in money, and the plague shall cease from [among] 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 Orna said to David, Take it to thyself, and let my lord the king do what is right in his eyes: see, I have given the calves for a whole-burnt-offering, and the plough for wood, and the corn for a meat-offering; I have given 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 Orna, Nay; for I will surely buy it for its worth in money: for I will not take thy property for the Lord, to offer a whole-burnt-offering to the Lord without cost [to myself].
25 So David paid six hundred shekels of gold for the place.
And David gave to Orna for his 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 to the Lord, and offered up whole-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings: and he cried to the Lord, and he answered him by fire out of heaven on the altar of whole-burnt-offerings, and [it] consumed the whole-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 up the 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 answered him in the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite, he also 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.
And the tabernacle of the Lord which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of whole-burnt-offerings, [were] at that time in the high place at Gabaon.
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.
And David could not go before it to enquire of God; for he hasted not because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
