241 Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel , and it incited David against them to say , " Go , number Israel and Judah ." 2 The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Go about now through all the tribes of Israel , from Dan to Beersheba , and register the people , that I may know the number of the people ." 3 But Joab said to the king , " Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see ; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing ?" 4 Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army . So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel . 5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer , on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer . 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi , and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon , 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites , and they went out to the south of Judah , to Beersheba . 8 So when they had gone about through the whole land , they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days . 9 And Joab gave the number of the registration of the people to the king ; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword , and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men .
10 Now David's heart troubled him after e he had numbered the people . So David said to the Lord , " I have sinned greatly in what I have done . But now , O Lord , please take away the iniquity of Your servant , for I have acted very foolishly ." 11 When David arose in the morning , the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad , David's seer , saying , 12 "Go and speak to David , 'Thus the Lord says , "I am offering you three things ; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.""' 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land ? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land ? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me." 14 Then David said to Gad , "I am in great distress . Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great , but do not let me fall into the hand of man ." 15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time , and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died . 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people , "It is enough ! Now relax your hand !" And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite . 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people , and said , "Behold , it is I who have sinned , and it is I who have done wrong ; but these sheep , what have they done ? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father's house ."
18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, " Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite ." 19 David went up according to the word of Gad , just as the Lord had commanded . 20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king . 21 Then Araunah said , "Why has my lord the king come to his servant ?" And David said , "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord , that the plague may be held back from the people ." 22 Araunah said to David , "Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight . Look , the oxen for the burnt offering , the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood . 23 "Everything , O king , Araunah gives to the king ." And Araunah said to the king , "May the Lord your God accept you." 24 However, the king said to Araunah , "No , but I will surely buy it from you for a price , for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing ." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver . 25 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings . Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land , and the plague was held back from Israel .
