1 Chronicles 21
1 Then Satan stands up against Israel, and persuades David to number Israel,
An adversary arose against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
2 and David says to Joab and to the heads of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beer-Sheba even to Dan, and bring [the account] to 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 says, “YHWH adds to His people as they are one hundred times; are they not, my lord, O king, all of them for servants to my lord? Why does 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 goes out, and goes up and down in all Israel, and comes 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 gives the account of the numbering of the people to David, and all Israel is one million and one 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 he has not numbered Levi and Benjamin 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 strikes Israel,
God was offended by this action, so he attacked Israel.
8 and David says to God, “I have sinned exceedingly in that I have done this thing; and now, please cause the iniquity of Your servant to pass away, 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 YHWH speaks to Gad, seer of David, saying,
Yahweh told Gad, David's prophet,
10 “Go, and you have spoken to David, saying, Thus said YHWH: I am extending three [choices] to you; choose one of these for yourself, and I do [it] to you.”
“Go say to David, 'This is what Yahweh says: I am giving you three choices. Choose one of them.'”
11 And Gad comes to David and says to him, “Thus said YHWH: Take for yourself—
So Gad went to David and said to him, “Yahweh says this, 'Choose one of these:
12 either famine for three years, or three months to be consumed from the face of your adversaries (even [for] the sword of your enemies to overtake), or three days of the sword of YHWH (even pestilence in the land, and a messenger of YHWH 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 says to Gad, “I am greatly distressed, please let me fall into the hand of YHWH, for His mercies [are] very many, and do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
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 YHWH gives a pestilence in Israel, and there falls from Israel seventy thousand men,
So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand people died.
15 and God sends a messenger to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he is destroying, YHWH has seen, and is comforted concerning the calamity, and says to the messenger who [is] destroying, “Enough now, cease your hand.” And the messenger of YHWH 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 lifts up his eyes, and sees the messenger of YHWH standing between the earth and the heavens, and his sword [is] drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem, and David falls, and the elderly, 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 says to God, “Did I not command to number the people? Indeed, it [is] I who have sinned, and done great evil: and these, the flock, what did they do? O YHWH, my God, please let Your hand be on me, and on the house of my father, and not on Your 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 YHWH commanded to Gad to say to David, “Surely David goes up to raise an altar to YHWH 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 goes up by the word of Gad, that he spoke in the Name of YHWH.
So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of Yahweh.
20 And Ornan turns back and sees 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 comes to Ornan, and Ornan looks attentively and sees David, and goes out from the threshing-floor, and bows 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 says to Ornan, “Give the place of the threshing-floor to me, and I build an altar to YHWH in it; give it to me for full price, 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 says to David, “Take [it] to yourself, and my lord the king does 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; I have given the whole.”
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 says to Ornan, “No, for I surely buy [it] for full price; for I do not lift up that which is yours to YHWH, 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 gives to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold [in] weight for the place;
So David paid six hundred shekels of gold for the place.
26 and David builds an altar to YHWH there, and offers burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and calls to YHWH, and He answers him from the heavens with fire 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 YHWH speaks to the messenger, and he turns back his sword to 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 sees that YHWH has answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrifices 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 Dwelling Place of YHWH that Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt-offering, [are] at that time at 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 has been afraid because of the sword of the messenger of YHWH.
However, David could not go there to ask for God's direction, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.
