2 Samuel 24

₁The Lord was angry with the Israelites again. Then He made David decide to do something so that He could punish the Israelites. The Lord said to David: ‘Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.’

₂The king said to Joab, the chief of the army: ‘You must go to all the tribes_of_Israel, from the town of Dan to Beersheba, and you must count all the people. I want to know how many there are.’ ₃Joab said to the king: ‘I wish the Lord your God would make the nation 100 times more people and I hope that you will see it. Your_Majesty, why do you want to count the people?’

₄But the king said Joab and the leaders must do it and they had to do what the king said. They went away from the king to count the Israelites. ₅They went over the Jordan River and they put up their tents near the town of Aroer, south of the town in the valley. Then they went through the land of Gad to Jazer. ₆They came into the land of Gilead and the land of Tahtim-Hodshi. From there they went to Dan-Jaan and to the town of Sidon. ₇They went to Tyre, a town with strong walls, and then to all the towns of the Hivites and then to the Negev of Judah and the town of Beersheba. ₈They went to all the places in the land and after 9 months and 20 days they came back to Jerusalem. ₉Joab told the king how many people there were. There were 800 000 men in Israel who could go to war and there were 500 000 men in Judah. ₁₀After David had counted the people, he knew that it had been wrong to do it. He said to the Lord: ‘Lord, I have done a very wrong thing. Please forgive my sin. I have done something very foolish.’

₁₁Before David was up the next morning, the Lord talked to the prophet Gad. He was David's prophet. The Lord said: ₁₂‘You must go to David. Tell him I say: “David, there are 3 different ways that God can punish you. You must choose which one, and I will make it happen.” ’

₁₃Gad went to David and he told David that the Lord had said: ‘Do you want a famine in your land for 7 years, or do you want to flee from your enemies for 3 months because they will follow_and_chase you, or do you want the people in the land to get sick from a very bad disease for 3 days? You must think about it and decide what you want to choose, and then tell me what I must say to God who has sent me.’

₁₄David said to Gad: ‘This is a big problem for me. The Lord can do with me what He decides, because He is full of mercy, but I don't want Him to give me to people to do with me what they want to do.’

₁₅The Lord sent a very bad disease to the land_of_Israel from the morning until the time that He said. There were 70 000 people who died from the town of Dan to Beersheba. ₁₆When the angel put out his hand to punish the people of Jerusalem, the Lord decided to stop the punishment. He told the angel who had to punish the people: ‘Stop, it is enough. Put down your hand.’ The angel of the Lord was at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite when the Lord told him to stop.

₁₇When David saw the angel who had to punish the people, he said to the Lord: ‘Lord, it is I who have sinned. It is I who have done wrong. What have these people done wrong? Nothing. You can punish me and my family.’

₁₈On that day the prophet Gad came to David and said to him: ‘You must go and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’ ₁₉David listened to Gad, and he did what the Lord said he must do.

₂₀Araunah looked out and he saw the king and his officials coming to him. Araunah came out and he bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. ₂₁He asked: ‘Why does Your_Majesty come to me?’ David said: ‘I have come to buy your threshing-floor. I must build an altar for the Lord, and then this bad disease will stop.’

₂₂Araunah said to David: ‘Your_Majesty, you must take what you want and you must sacrifice what you want. Here are cattle for the burnt-offering and here are poles and wood that we use to thresh, and yokes to make a fire. ₂₃Your_Majesty, I give it all to you.’ ₂₄The king said to Araunah: ‘No, I will buy it from you. How much must I pay you? I want to do it. I will not give a burnt-offering to the Lord my God if I have not paid for it.’

David paid 50 shekels of silver and he bought the threshing-floor and the oxen. ₂₅David built an altar for the Lord and he sacrificed burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. The Lord accepted the offerings and answered his prayer for his land and no more people died from the famine.