I Paralipomenon 21
1 Consurrexit autem Satan contra Israel: et concitavit David ut numeraret Israel.
Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of Israel.
2 Dixitque David ad Ioab, et ad principes populi: Ite, et numerate Israel a Bersabee usque Dan: et afferte mihi numerum ut sciam.
And David said to Joab and the captains of the people, Now let all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, be numbered; and give me word so that I may be certain of their number.
3 Responditque Ioab: Augeat Dominus populum suum centuplum, quam sunt: nonne domine mi rex, omnes servi tui sunt? quare hoc quærit dominus meus, quod in peccatum reputetur Israeli?
And Joab said, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more in number than they are; but, my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants? why would my lord have this done? why will he become a cause of sin to Israel?
4 Sed sermo regis magis prævaluit: egressusque est Ioab, et circuivit universum Israel; et reversus est Ierusalem:
But the king's word was stronger than Joab's. So Joab went out and went through all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
5 Deditque David numerum eorum, quos circuierat: et inventus est omnis numerus Israel, mille millia et centum millia virorum educentium gladium: de Iuda autem quadringenta septuaginta millia bellatorum.
And Joab gave David the number of all the people; all the men of Israel, able to take up arms, were one million, one hundred thousand men; and those of Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men, able to take up arms.
6 Nam Levi, et Beniamin non numeravit: eo quod Ioab invitus exequeretur regis imperium.
But Levi and Benjamin were not numbered among them, for Joab was disgusted with the king's order.
7 Displicuit autem Deo quod iussum erat; et percussit Israel.
And God was not pleased with this thing; so he sent punishment on Israel.
8 Dixitque David ad Deum: Peccavi nimis ut hoc facerem: obsecro aufer iniquitatem servi tui, quia insipienter egi.
Then David said to God, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.
9 Et locutus est Dominus ad Gad Videntem Davidis, dicens:
Then the word of the Lord came to Gad, David's seer, saying,
10 Vade, et loquere ad David, et dic ei: Hæc dicit Dominus: Trium tibi optionem do; unum, quod volueris, elige, et faciam tibi.
Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, so that I may do it to you.
11 Cumque venisset Gad ad David, dixit ei: Hæc dicit Dominus: Elige quod volueris:
So Gad came to David and said to him, The Lord says, Take whichever you will:
12 aut tribus annis famem: aut tribus mensibus te fugere hostes tuos, et gladium eorum non posse evadere: aut tribus diebus gladium Domini, et pestilentiam versari in terra, et angelum Domini interficere in universis finibus Israel: nunc igitur vide quid respondeam ei, qui misit me.
Three years when there will not be enough food; or three months of war, when you will go in flight before your haters, being in great danger of the sword; or three days of the sword of the Lord, disease in the land, and the angel of the Lord taking destruction through all the land of Israel. Now give thought to the answer I am to take back to him who sent me.
13 Et dixit David ad Gad: Ex omni parte me angustiæ premunt: sed melius mihi est, ut incidam in manus Domini, quia multæ sunt miserationes eius, quam in manus hominum.
And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let me come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.
14 Misit ergo Dominus pestilentiam in Israel: et ceciderunt de Israel septuaginta millia virorum.
So the Lord sent disease on Israel, causing the death of seventy thousand men.
15 Misit quoque angelum in Ierusalem, ut percuteret eam: cumque percuteretur, vidit Dominus, et misertus est super magnitudine mali: et imperavit angelo, qui percutiebat: Sufficit, iam cesset manus tua. Porro angelus Domini stabat iuxta aream Ornan Iebusæi.
And God sent an angel to Jerusalem for its destruction: and when he was about to do so, the Lord saw, and had regret for the evil, and said to the angel of destruction, It is enough; do no more. Now the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 Levansque David oculos suos, vidit angelum Domini stantem inter cælum et terram, et evaginatum gladium in manu eius, et versum contra Ierusalem: et ceciderunt tam ipse, quam maiores natu vestiti ciliciis, proni in terram.
And David, lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord there between earth and heaven, with an uncovered sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the responsible men, clothed in haircloth, went down on their faces.
17 Dixitque David ad Deum: Nonne ego sum, qui iussi ut numeraretur populus? Ego, qui peccavi: ego, qui malum feci: iste grex quid commeruit? Domine Deus meus vertatur obsecro manus tua in me, et in domum patris mei: populus autem tuus non percutiatur.
And David said to God, Was it not I who gave the order for the people to be numbered? It is I who have done the sin and the great wrong; but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand, O Lord God, be lifted up against me and against my family, but not against your people to send disease on them.
18 Angelus autem Domini præcepit Gad ut diceret Davidi ut ascenderet, extrueretque altare Domino Deo in area Ornan Iebusæi.
Then the angel of the Lord gave orders to Gad to say to David that he was to go and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 Ascendit ergo David iuxta sermonem Gad, quem locutus ei fuerat ex nomine Domini.
And David went up, as Gad had said in the name of the Lord.
20 Porro Ornan cum suspexisset et vidisset angelum, quattuorque filii eius cum eo, absconderunt se: nam eo tempore terebat in area triticum.
And Ornan, turning back, saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him went to a secret place. Now Ornan was crushing his grain.
21 Igitur cum veniret David ad Ornan, conspexit eum Ornan, et processit ei obviam de area, et adoravit eum pronus in terram.
And when David came, Ornan, looking, saw him, and came out from the grain-floor and went down on his face to the earth before him.
22 Dixitque ei David: Da mihi locum areæ tuæ, ut ædificem in ea altare Domino: ita ut quantum valet argenti accipias, et cesset plaga a populo.
Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place where this grain-floor is, so that I may put up an altar here to the Lord: let me have it for its full price; so that this disease may be stopped among the people.
23 Dixit autem Ornan ad David: Tolle, et faciat dominus meus rex quodcumque ei placet: sed et boves do in holocaustum, et tribulas in ligna, et triticum in sacrificium: Omnia libens præbebo.
And Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems right to him. See, I give you the oxen for burned offerings and the grain-cleaning instruments for fire-wood, and the grain for the meal offering; I give it all.
24 Dixitque ei rex David: Nequaquam ita fiet, sed argentum dabo quantum valet: neque enim tibi auferre debeo, et sic offerre Domino holocausta gratuita.
And King David said to Ornan, No; I will certainly give you the full price for it, because I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or give a burned offering without payment.
25 Dedit ergo David Ornan pro loco siclos auri iustissimi ponderis sexcentos.
So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.
26 Et ædificavit ibi altare Domino: obtulitque holocausta, et pacifica, et invocavit Dominum, et exaudivit eum in igne de cælo super altare holocausti.
And David put up an altar there to the Lord, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings with prayers to the Lord; and he gave him an answer from heaven, sending fire on the altar of burned offering.
27 Præcepitque Dominus Angelo: et convertit gladium suum in vaginam.
Then the Lord gave orders to the angel, and he put back his sword into its cover.
28 Protinus ergo David, videns quod exaudisset eum Dominus in area Ornan Iebusæi, immolavit ibi victimas.
At that time, when David saw that the Lord had given him an answer on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made an offering there.
29 Tabernaculum autem Domini, quod fecerat Moyses in deserto, et altare holocaustorum, ea tempestate erat in excelso Gabaon.
For the House of the Lord, which Moses had made in the waste land, and the altar of burned offerings, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
30 Et non prævaluit David ire ad altare ut ibi obsecraret Deum: nimio enim fuerat in timore perterritus, videns gladium Angeli Domini.
But David was not able to go before it to get directions from the Lord, so great was his fear of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
