2 Samuel 24:12-14

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

¹² ‘Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer^[a] you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’ ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, ‘Shall three^[b] years of famine come to you on your land? Or will you flee for three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.’ ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, ‘I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into human hands.’