1Yahweh’s anger again burned against Israel, and he made David go against them, saying, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2So the king told Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people so I can know how many there are.”
3Joab responded to the king, “May Yahweh your God increase the number of people a hundred times, however many there are, and may my lord the king live to see it. But why does my lord the king want to do this?”
4However, the king’s command overruled Joab and the army commanders. So Joab and the army commanders left the king’s presence to count the people of Israel.
5They crossed the Jordan River and set up camp in Aroer, which was on the right side of the city in the middle of Gad’s valley, and then continued to Jazer.
6Then they went to Gilead and the land of Tahtim Hodshi. They traveled to Dan Jaan and all the way to Sidon,
7and came to the fortified city of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went south into Judah, reaching Beersheba.
8So, after traveling throughout the entire land, they arrived back in Jerusalem after nine months and twenty days.
9Joab reported the total number of people counted to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 brave men who could wield a sword, and in Judah there were 500,000 men.
10After counting the people, David felt very guilty. David said to Yahweh, “What I have done is a terrible sin. But now, Yahweh, I beg you, please forgive your servant’s wrongdoing, for I have acted very foolishly.”
11When David woke up the next morning, Yahweh’s message came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer, saying,
12“Go and tell David that Yahweh says, ‘I am giving you three choices. Pick one of them, and I will do it to you.’”
13So Gad went to David, told him the message, and said to him, “Will there be seven years of famine in your land? Or will you flee for three months from your enemies as they chase you? Or will there be three days of plague in your land? Now answer me, and consider what reply I should give to the one who sent me.”
14David said to Gad, “I am in a difficult situation. Let us fall into Yahweh’s hand, because his mercy is great. Let me not fall into human hands.”
15So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 people died, from Dan all the way to Beersheba.
16When the angel reached out to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh changed his mind about the disaster and said to the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Now stop.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17When David saw the angel killing the people, he spoke to Yahweh and said, “Look, I am the one who sinned, and I am the one who did wrong. But these people are like sheep; what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s family.”
18That same day, Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19David went up, just as Gad had told him, as Yahweh had commanded.
20Araunah looked up and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and knelt before the king with his face to the ground.
21Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to visit his servant?” David said, “To buy your threshing floor, so I can build an altar to Yahweh there, and the plague on the people can be stopped.”
22Araunah said to David, “My lord the king may take and offer whatever he thinks is good. Look, here are oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and yokes for the wood.”
23Araunah said to the king, “I give all of this to the king.” Araunah also said to the king, “May Yahweh your God accept you.”
24The king replied to Araunah, “No, I will certainly buy it from you for a fair price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25David built an altar there to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh answered his prayer for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.