⁹ The Lord said to Gad,^(A) David’s seer,^{(B) 10} “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against 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,^(C) three months of being swept away^[a] before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword^(D) of the Lord^(E)—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

¹³ David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy^(F) is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”