II Samuel 24 · שמואל ב

And again the anger of the Lord burned against Yisra᾽el, and he incited David against them, saying, Go, number Yisra᾽el and Yehuda.

For the king said to Yo᾽av the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Yisra᾽el, from Dan to Be᾽er-sheva, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.

And Yo᾽av said to the king, Now the Lord thy God add to the people, as many more again, a hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why does my lord the king desire this thing?

But the king’s word prevailed against Yo᾽av, and against the captains of the host. And Yo᾽av and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Yisra᾽el.

And they passed over the Yarden, and camped in ῾Aro῾er, on the right side of the city that lies in the midst of the wadi of the tribe Gad, and toward Ya῾azer:

then they came to Gil῾ad, and to the land of Taĥtim-ĥodshi; and they came to Dan-ya῾an, and round about to Żidon,

and came to the fortress of Żor, and to all the cities of the Ḥivvi, and of the Kena῾ani; and they went out to the south of Yehuda, which is Be᾽er-sheva.

So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Yerushalayim, at the end of nine months and twenty days.

And Yo᾽av rendered the sum of the census of the people to the king: and there were in Yisra᾽el eight hundred thousand warriors, that drew the sword; and the men of Yehuda were five hundred thousand men.

And David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done: and now, O Lord, take away, I pray Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

And when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,

Go and say to David, Thus says the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it to thee.

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

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: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Yisra᾽el from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Be᾽er-sheva seventy thousand men.

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Yerushalayim to destroy it, the Lord relented of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of Aravna the Yevusi.

And David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely: but these sheep, what have they done? let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.

And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to the Lord on the threshingfloor of Aravna the Yevusite.

And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

And Aravna looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on towards him: and Aravna went out, and bowed himself down before the king on his face to the ground.

And Aravna said, Why is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

And Aravna said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him: behold, here are oxen for the burnt offering, and threshing instruments and other equipment of the oxen for wood.

All these things did the king Aravna give to the king. And Aravna said to the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.

And the king said to Aravna, No; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Yisra᾽el.