大卫统计人口

21 撒旦为了攻击以色列,就挑动大卫统计以色列人的数目。 大卫对约押和其他军中的首领说:“你们要走遍以色列,从别示巴一直到但,统计以色列的人口,然后回来禀告我,我好知道他们的数目。” 约押说:“愿耶和华使祂子民的人数比现在增加百倍。但我主我王啊,他们不都是你的仆人吗?我主为什么要这样做,使以色列人陷于罪中呢?” 但大卫不听约押的规劝。约押只好出去,走遍以色列,然后回到耶路撒冷, 将人数呈报大卫:全以色列有一百一十万刀兵,犹大有四十七万。 约押没有把利未人和便雅悯人算在其中,因为他厌恶王的这个命令。 上帝也不喜悦这事,便降灾给以色列人。 大卫对上帝说:“我做这事犯了大罪。求你赦免仆人的罪,我做了极其愚昧的事。” 耶和华对大卫的先见迦得说: 10 “你去告诉大卫,我有三样灾祸,他可以选择让我降哪一样给他。”

11 迦得就来见大卫,把耶和华的话告诉他,说:“你可以任选一样, 12 或三年的饥荒,或被敌人追杀三个月,或国中遭三天的瘟疫,让耶和华的天使在以色列全境施行毁灭。请你考虑好后告诉我,我好回复那差我来的。” 13 大卫说:“我实在为难!不过我宁愿落在耶和华的手中,也不愿落在人的手中,因为耶和华有无限的怜悯。”

14 于是,耶和华在以色列降下瘟疫,有七万人死亡。 15 上帝差遣天使去毁灭耶路撒冷。天使正要毁灭的时候,耶和华见了就心生怜悯,对施行毁灭的天使说:“够了,住手吧!”当时,耶和华的天使正站在耶布斯人阿珥楠的麦场上。 16 大卫举目看见耶和华的天使站在天地之间,手握着已出鞘的刀,指向耶路撒冷。大卫和众长老都身披麻衣,脸伏于地。 17 大卫对上帝说:“吩咐统计人民数目的不是我吗?是我犯了罪,做了恶事,这些百姓有什么过错呢?我的上帝耶和华啊,愿你的手惩罚我和我的家族,不要把瘟疫降在你的子民身上。”

18 耶和华的天使吩咐迦得去告诉大卫在耶布斯人阿珥楠的麦场上为耶和华建一座祭坛。 19 大卫照耶和华借迦得所说的话去了麦场。 20 那时,阿珥楠正在打麦子,他转身看见了天使,跟他在一起的四个儿子都躲了起来。 21 阿珥楠看见大卫来了,就从麦场出来,俯伏叩拜大卫。 22 大卫对他说:“请你将这块麦场卖给我,我要在这里为耶和华筑一座祭坛,好止住民间的瘟疫。你全价卖给我吧。” 23 阿珥楠说:“我主我王只管用我的麦场!我愿献出牛作燔祭,打麦的器具作柴,麦子作素祭,我愿献出这一切。”

24 大卫王说:“不可,我一定要付你全价,我不能拿你的东西献给耶和华,不能把白白得来的献作燔祭。” 25 于是,大卫就用七公斤金子买了阿珥楠的麦场。 26 大卫在那里为耶和华建了一座坛,献上燔祭和平安祭,并求告耶和华。耶和华垂听了他的祷告,从天上降火在祭坛上, 27 又命令天使收刀入鞘。

28 大卫见耶和华在耶布斯人阿珥楠的麦场上应允了他的祷告,就在那里献祭。 29 那时候,摩西在旷野为耶和华所造的圣幕和燔祭坛都在基遍的高地。 30 但大卫因为惧怕耶和华天使的刀,不敢去那里求问上帝。

David’s Military Census

21 Satan[a](A) rose up against Israel and incited David(B) to count the people of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring a report to me so I can know their number.”(C)

Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply the number of his people a hundred times over!(D) My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem. Joab gave the total troop registration to David. In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand armed men[b] and in Judah itself four hundred seventy thousand armed men. But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count because the king’s command was detestable to him. This command was also evil in God’s sight, so he afflicted Israel.

David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now, please take away your servant’s guilt, for I’ve been very foolish.”(E)

David’s Punishment

Then(F) the Lord instructed Gad,(G) David’s seer,(H) 10 “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.’”

11 So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: 12 three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes with the sword of your enemy overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—a plague on the land, the angel of the Lord bringing destruction to the whole territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”

13 David answered Gad, “I’m in anguish. Please, let me fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are very great,(I) but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

14 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelite men died. 15 Then God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when the angel was about to destroy the city,[c] the Lord looked, relented concerning the destruction,(J) and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan[d] the Jebusite.

16 When David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, covered in sackcloth,(K) fell facedown. 17 David said to God, “Wasn’t I the one who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Lord my God, please let your hand be against me and against my father’s family, but don’t let the plague be against your people.”

David’s Altar

18 So the angel of the Lord ordered Gad(L) to tell David to go and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.(M) 19 David went up at Gad’s command spoken in the name of the Lord.

20 Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel. His four sons, who were with him, hid. 21 David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.

22 Then David said to Ornan, “Give me this threshing-floor plot so that I may build an altar to the Lord on it. Give it to me for the full price, so the plague on the people may be stopped.”

23 Ornan said to David, “Take it! My lord the king may do whatever he wants.[e] See, I give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I give it all.”

24 King David answered Ornan, “No, I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the Lord what belongs to you or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

25 So David gave Ornan fifteen pounds of gold[f] for the plot. 26 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and he answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.(N)

27 Then the Lord spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, David offered sacrifices there when he saw that the Lord answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 29 The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at the high place in Gibeon,(O) 30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was terrified of the sword of the Lord’s angel.

Footnotes

  1. 21:1 Or An adversary; Jb 1:6; Zch 3:1–2
  2. 21:5 Lit men drawing the sword
  3. 21:15 Lit but as he was destroying
  4. 21:15–28 = Araunah in 2Sm 24:16–24
  5. 21:23 Lit do what is good in his eyes
  6. 21:25 Lit 600 shekels of gold by weight

21 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

And Joab answered, The Lord make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.

And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

And the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying,

10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee

12 Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.

14 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

18 Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.

20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

23 And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.

24 And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

26 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

27 And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

28 At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

29 For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.

30 But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.