1 ¶ Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

2 For the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, so that I may know their number.

3 And Joab said to the king, May the LORD your God add to the people, a hundred times as many as there are, and let the eyes of my lord the king see it: 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. And Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5 And they crossed over the Jordan, and camped in Aroer, on the south side of the city lying in the midst of the river valley toward Gad, and toward Jazer:

6 Then they went to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and around to Zidon,

7 And came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.

8 So when they had gone through the entire land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering 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 ¶ But David’s conscience bothered him after he numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, I have sinned greatly by what I have done: and now, I beseech you, O LORD, 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 say to David, This is what the LORD says, I offer you three things; choose one of them, so that I may bring it upon you.

13 So Gad went to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to your land? or will you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? or do you prefer three days of pestilence in your land? consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.

14 And David said to Gad, I am in great distress: let us fall now 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 to the time appointed: and of the people seventy thousand men died from Dan to Beersheba.

16 And when the angel stretched out his hand against Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough: now stay your hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel that had struck down the people, he spoke to the LORD, saying, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but what have these sheep done? let your hand, I pray, be against me, and against my father’s house.

18 ¶ And that day Gad came to David, and said to him, Go up, and rear an altar to the LORD in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

19 So David, went up at Gad’s word, as the LORD commanded.

20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him: so Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face upon the ground.

21 And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague on the people may be halted.

22 Then Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems right to him: behold, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and yokes of the oxen for wood.

23 All this O king, Araunah gives to the king. And Araunah said to the king, The LORD your God accept you.

24 And the king said to Araunah, No; but I will surely buy it from you at a price: nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God of that which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 And there David built an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague on Israel ended.