1 Chronicles 21
Lexham English Bible
The Census of David
21 Then Satan[a] stood against Israel and urged David to count Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and to the commanders of the nation, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring a report to me that I might know their number.” 3 But Joab said, “May Yahweh add to the people a hundred times what they are! Are they not, O my lord the king, all of them the king’s servants? Why does my lord seek this? Why would he bring guilt to Israel?” 4 But the word of the king prevailed over Joab. Then he went about through all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab gave the number of the enrollment of the people to David. And it happened that all Israel was one million one hundred thousand men drawing a sword, and in Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men drawing a sword. 6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the word of the king was repulsive to Joab.
7 But this word was displeasing in the eyes of God, and he struck Israel. 8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned severely in that I have done this thing. But now, please forgive the sin of your servant, for I have been very foolish.” 9 Then Yahweh spoke to Gad the seer of David, saying, 10 “Go, you must speak to David, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Three choices I offer to you. Choose one of them for yourself that I will do to you.”’” 11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Choose for yourself: 12 whether three years of famine or three months of devastation by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of Yahweh, with disease in the land and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the territory in Israel.’ So now, see what word I should return to my sender.” 13 Then David said to Gad, “I am very troubled.[b] Let me into the hand of Yahweh, for his compassion is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of a man.”
14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence through Israel, and seventy thousand men from Israel fell. 15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, and as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and was grieved on account of the calamity. Then he said to the angel, the destroyer, “It is enough; slacken your hand.” And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 17 Then David said to God, “Was it not I who gave a command to count the people? Now I am he who has sinned, and I have certainly done wickedness, but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh, my God, please let your hand be against me and against the house of my father, but against your people, let there be no plague.”
David Builds an Altar
18 Now the angel of Yahweh had spoken to Gad to say to David that David should go up and erect an altar for Yahweh. 19 So David went up at the word of Gad that he had spoken in the name of Yahweh. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and Ornan turned and saw the angel, and his four sons with him hid themselves. 21 Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and they bowed down to David, faces to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, “Please give me the place, the threshing floor, that I might build an altar on it to Yahweh; at full price please give it to me, that the plague against the people might be stopped.” 23 And Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself; let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. See, I give the cattle for the burnt offerings and threshing sledges for the wood and wheat for the grain offering—I give it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, for I will certainly buy it at full value; indeed, I will not take what is yours for Yahweh and offer burnt offerings for nothing.” 25 So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 Then David built an altar there to Yahweh, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he called to Yahweh. And he answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then Yahweh commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 Now the tabernacle of Yahweh that Moses had made in the desert and the altar of burnt offering were at that time at the high place of Gibeon. 30 But David was not able to go before it to seek God, for he was afraid on account of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 21:1 Or “an accuser,” or “an adversary”
- 1 Chronicles 21:13 Literally “Great trouble to me”
1 Chronicles 21
International Standard Version
David’s Unauthorized Census(A)
21 Then Satan attacked Israel by inciting David to enumerate a census of Israel. 2 David ordered Joab and the commanders of the army,[a] “Go take a census of Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report so I can be aware of the total number.”
3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the population of his people a hundredfold! Your majesty,[b] all of them are your majesty’s servants, aren’t they? So why should your majesty demand this? Why should he bring guilt to Israel?”
4 But the king’s order overruled Joab, so Joab left, traveled throughout all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem 5 to report the total population count to David. Throughout all of Israel there were 1,100,000 men trained for war.[c] In Judah there were 470,000 men trained for war. 6 Levi and Benjamin were not included in the census, because what the king had commanded was unethical to Joab.
David Chooses His Punishment(B)
7 God considered this behavior[d] to be evil, so he attacked Israel. 8 David responded to God, “I sinned greatly by behaving this way. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly.”
9 So the Lord responded through Gad, David’s seer. 10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I’m holding three choices out for you: pick one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.”’”[e]
11 Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Make a choice for yourself: 12 Either three years of famine, or three months of reversals[f] as you are swept away by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days with the sword of the Lord, consisting of pestilence infecting the land, with the angel of the Lord wreaking destruction from border to border throughout all[g] of Israel.’ Decide right now what I am to answer to the one who sent me.”
13 So David replied to Gad, “This is a very bad choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the Lord, because his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!”
14 Then the Lord sent a pestilence to Israel, and 70,000 men died in Israel. 15 God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as he was about to do so, the Lord looked and withdrew[h] the calamity by saying to the destroying angel, “Enough! Stop what you’re doing!”[i]
So the angel of the Lord remained standing near the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan[j] the Jebusite.[k] 16 David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 David told God, “Wasn’t I the one who ordered the census of the population? Wasn’t it I who sinned and acted wickedly? Now as for these sheep, what have they done? Lord God, please let your hand be against me and my ancestral household, but don’t let your people be ravaged by plague!”
David’s Altar(C)
18 The angel of the Lord told Gad to tell David that David was to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up, obeying Gad’s directive that he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Ornan turned around and saw the angel. While his four sons with him ran away to hide, Ornan continued to thresh wheat. 21 As David approached Ornan, Ornan looked around and observed David, left the threshing floor, and fell to the ground before David with his face on the ground.
22 David told Ornan, “Give me the threshing floor as a site to build an altar to the Lord on it. Give it to me at its full price, so the plague may be averted from the people.”
23 But Ornan replied to David, “Take it! Let your majesty the king do whatever seems like a good idea to him. Look here! I’m giving the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing machinery for the wood, and the wheat for a grain offering. I’m giving all of it.”
24 But King David told Ornan, “No. I will buy them for the full price[l] because I will not offer to the Lord what is yours or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
25 So David paid Ornan 600 shekels weight worth in gold for the site, 26 built an altar to the Lord there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called out to the Lord, and he answered him from heaven with fire on the altar of burnt offerings. 27 After this, the Lord spoke to the angel, who then sheathed his sword.
28 From that time on, after David had observed that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made his sacrifices there. 29 Meanwhile, the tent of the Lord that Moses had crafted in the desert, along with the altar of burnt offerings, were being stored at the high place in Gibeon at that time, 30 but David was not going before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword carried by the angel of the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 21:2 Lit. people
- 1 Chronicles 21:3 Lit. my lord the king
- 1 Chronicles 21:5 Lit. men in wielding a sword
- 1 Chronicles 21:7 Lit. this matter
- 1 Chronicles 21:10 MT pronouns are sing. in this vs.
- 1 Chronicles 21:12 Or destruction
- 1 Chronicles 21:12 Lit. destruction in all the border
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Or and relented concerning
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Lit. Stay your hand
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Ornan was also known as Araunah; cf. 2Sam 24:16
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 I.e. a descendant of Canaan’s third son (cf. Gen 10:15-16); Jebusites were native to Jebus, the ancient name of the city of Jerusalem
- 1 Chronicles 21:24 Lit. silver
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