David's Census Brings Pestilence

21 ^(A)Then ^(B)Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.

David's Census

24 ^(A)(B)Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ^(C)“Go, number Israel and Judah.” ² So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,^[a] who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, ^(D)from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” ³ But Joab said to the king, ^(E)“May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴ But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan and began from ^(F)Aroer,^[b] and from the city that is in the middle of the ^(G)valley, toward Gad and on to ^(H)Jazer. ⁶ Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;^[c] and they came to Dan, and from Dan^[d] they went around to ^(I)Sidon, ⁷ and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ^(J)Hivites and ^(K)Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. ⁸ So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men ^(L)who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin

¹⁰ But ^(M)David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ^(N)“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done ^(O)very foolishly.” ¹¹ And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(P)the prophet Gad, David's ^(Q)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer^[e] you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(R)three^[f] years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee 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 him who sent me.” ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^(S)for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

^15 (T)So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from ^(U)Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. ¹⁶ And when ^(V)the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem ^(W)to destroy it, ^(X)the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel ^(Y)who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And ^(Z)the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ^(AA)Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^(AB)Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. ²⁰ And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. ²¹ And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague ^(AC)may be averted from the people.” ²² Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the ^(AD)threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³ All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God ^(AE)accept you.” ²⁴ But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels^[g] of silver. ²⁵ And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^(AF)So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

A Vision of Joshua the High Priest

3 Then he showed me ^(A)Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^(B)Satan^[a] standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Satan Attacks Job's Health

2 Again ^(A)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now ^(A)the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers^[a] has been thrown down, ^(B)who accuses them day and night before our God.

⁴ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵ But ^(A)stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will ^(B)curse you to your face.” ⁶ And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

Satan Allowed to Test Job

⁶ Now there was a day when ^(A)the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and ^(B)Satan^[a] also came among them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From ^(C)going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” ⁸ And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you ^(D)considered my ^(E)servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, ^(F)a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” ⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? ¹⁰ Have you not put ^(G)a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have ^(H)blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But ^(I)stretch out your hand and ^(J)touch all that he has, and he will ^(K)curse you ^(L)to your face.” ¹² And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

²⁰ and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. ²¹ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ ²² And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be ^(A)a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’

²⁴ And ^(A)let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,