David's Census Brings Pestilence

21 ^(A)Then ^(B)Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. ² So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.” ³ But Joab said, “May the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord's servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?” ⁴ But the king's word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem. ⁵ And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel there were ^(C)1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah ^(D)470,000 who drew the sword. ^6 (E)But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab.

⁷ But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. ⁸ And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, please ^(F)take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” ⁹ And the Lord spoke to Gad, David's ^(G)seer, saying, ¹⁰ “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” ¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Choose what you will: ¹² either ^(H)three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹³ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he ^(I)relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, ^(J)clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. ¹⁷ And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father's house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ Now ^(K)the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁹ So David went up at Gad's word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. ²⁰ Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. ²¹ As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground. ²² And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.” ²³ Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.” ²⁴ But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” ²⁵ So David paid Ornan ^(L)600 shekels^[a] of gold by weight for the site. ²⁶ And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord^{[b] (M)}answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. ²⁷ Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

²⁸ At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. ²⁹ For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering ^(N)were at that time in the high place at Gibeon, ³⁰ but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

A Living Stone and a Holy People

2 ^(A)So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ^2 (B)Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual ^(C)milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have ^(D)tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ As you come to him, a living stone ^(E)rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ^5 (F)you yourselves like living stones are being built up as ^(G)a spiritual house, to be ^(H)a holy priesthood, ^(I)to offer spiritual sacrifices ^(J)acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture:

⁷ So the honor is for you who ^(M)believe, but for those who ^(N)do not believe,

⁸ and

They stumble because they disobey the word, ^(Q)as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are ^(R)a chosen race, ^(S)a royal ^(T)priesthood, ^(U)a holy nation, ^(V)a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you ^(W)out of darkness into ^(X)his marvelous light. ^10 (Y)Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you ^(Z)as sojourners and exiles ^(AA)to abstain from the passions of the flesh, ^(AB)which wage war against your soul. ^12 (AC)Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(AD)they may see your good deeds and glorify God on ^(AE)the day of visitation.

Submission to Authority

^13 (AF)Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,^[b] whether it be to the emperor^[c] as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him ^(AG)to punish those who do evil and ^(AH)to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, ^(AI)that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ^16 (AJ)Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but ^(AK)living as servants^[d] of God. ^17 (AL)Honor everyone. ^(AM)Love the brotherhood. ^(AN)Fear God. Honor the emperor.

^18 (AO)Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹ For this is a gracious thing, when, ^(AP)mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But ^(AQ)if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹ For ^(AR)to this you have been called, ^(AS)because Christ also suffered for you, ^(AT)leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ^22 (AU)He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ^23 (AV)When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, ^(AW)but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ^24 (AX)He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we ^(AY)might die to sin and ^(AZ)live to righteousness. ^(BA)By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For ^(BB)you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to ^(BC)the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.