1 Chronicles 21
1 And Satan rose up against Israel: and moved David to number Israel.
And the devil stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2 And David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people: Go, and number Israel from Bersabee even to Dan, and bring me the number of them that I may know it.
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 And Joab answered: The Lord make his people a hundred times more than they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all thy servants: why doth my lord seek this thing, which may be imputed as a sin to 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 rather prevailed: and Joab departed, and went through all Israel: and returned to Jerusalem.
Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab; and Joab went out and passed through all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
5 And he gave David the number of them, whom he had surveyed: and all the number of Israel was found to be eleven hundred thousand men that drew the sword: and of Juda four hundred and seventy thousand fighting men.
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 he did not number: for Joab unwillingly executed the king’s orders.
But he numbered not Levi and Benjamin amongst them; for the word of the king was painful to Joab.
7 And God was displeased with this thing that was commanded: and he struck Israel.
And [there was] evil in the sight of the Lord respecting this thing; and he struck Israel.
8 And David said to God: I have sinned exceedingly in doing this: I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done foolishly.
And David said to God, I have sinned exceedingly, in that I have done this thing: and now, I pray you, remove the sin of your servant; for I have been exceedingly foolish.
9 And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying:
And the Lord spoke to Gad the seer, saying,
10 Go, and speak to David, and tell him: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee the choice of three things: choose one which thou wilt, and I will do it to thee.
Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says the Lord, I bring three things upon you: choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.
11 And when Gad was come to David, he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: choose which thou wilt:
And Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Choose for yourself,
12 Either three years’ famine: or three months to flee from thy enemies, and not to be able to escape their sword: or three days to have the sword of the Lord, and pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying in all the coasts of Israel: now therefore see what I shall answer him who sent me.
either three years of famine, or that you should flee three months from the face of your enemies, and the sword of your enemies [shall be employed] to destroy you, 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 And David said to Gad: I am on every side in a great strait: but it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are many, than into the hands of men.
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 the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
So the Lord brought pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15 And he sent an angel to Jerusalem, to strike it: and as he was striking it, the Lord beheld, and took pity for the greatness of the evil: and said to the angel that destroyed: It is enough, now stop thy hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the thrashing 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 you; withhold your hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite.
16 And David lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand, turned against Jerusalem: and both he and the ancients clothed in haircloth, fell down flat 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 And David said to God: Am not I he that commanded the people to be numbered? It is I that have sinned: it is I that have done the evil: but as for this flock, what hath it deserved? O Lord my God, let thy hand be turned, I beseech thee, upon me, and upon my father’s house: and let not thy people be destroyed.
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 your hand be upon me, and upon my father's house, and not on your people for destruction, O Lord!
18 And the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David, to go up, and build an altar to the Lord God in the thrashingfloor 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 And David went up, according to the word of Gad, which he spoke to him in the name of the Lord.
And David went up according to the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord.
20 Now when Ornan looked up, and saw the angel, he and his four sons hid themselves: for at that time he was thrashing wheat in the floor.
And Orna turned and saw the king; and he hid himself and his four sons with him. Now Orna was threshing wheat.
21 And as David was coming to Ornan, Ornan saw him, and went out of the thrashingfloor to meet him, and bowed down to him 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 And David said to him: Give me this place of thy thrashingfloor, that I may build therein an altar to the Lord: but thou shalt take of me as much money as it is worth, that the plague may cease from the people.
And David said to Orna, Give me your 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 [amongst] the people.
23 And Ornan said to David: Take it, and let my lord the king do all that pleaseth him: and moreover the oxen also I give for a holocaust, and the drays for wood, and the wheat for the sacrifice: I will give it all willingly.
And Orna said to David, Take it to yourself, 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 And king David said to him: It shall not be so, but I will give thee money as much as it is worth: for I must not take it from thee, and so offer to the Lord holocausts free cost.
And king David said to Orna, Nay; for I will surely buy it for its worth in money: for I will not take your property for the Lord, to offer a whole burnt offering to the Lord without cost [to myself].
25 So David gave to Ornan for the place, six hundred sicles of gold of just weight.
And David gave to Orna for his place six hundred shekels of gold [by] weight.
26 And he built there an altar to the Lord: and he offered holocausts, and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and he heard him by sending Are from heaven upon the altar of the holocaust.
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 And the Lord commanded the angel: and he put up his sword again into the sheath.
And the Lord spoke to the angel; and he put up the sword into its sheath.
28 And David seeing that the Lord had heard him in the thrashingfloor of Oman the Jebusite, forthwith offered victims there.
At that time when David saw that the Lord answered him in the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite, he also sacrificed there.
29 But the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the desert, and the altar of holocausts, was at that time in the high place of Gabaon.
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 And David could not go to the altar there to pray to God: for he was seized with an exceeding great fear, seeing the sword of the angel of the Lord.
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.
