1 Chronicles 21
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 21
The Census and Plague. 1 Now Satan took his stand[a] against Israel, and he tempted David to take a census of Israel.
2 David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go take a census of Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan. Bring the number to me so that I might know it.”
3 Joab answered, “May the Lord multiply his people a hundred times over, but, my lord, the king, are these not my lord’s servants? Why would my lord order this? Why would he bring this guilt upon Israel?”
4 Nevertheless, the king was resolute with Joab. Joab departed and traveled all throughout Israel, and he then returned to Jerusalem. 5 Joab gave the total number of the people to David. In all of Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could draw the sword. In Judah there were four hundred and seventy thousand men who could draw the sword. 6 He did not count Levi or Benjamin, however, for Joab found the king’s command to be detestable.
7 God was greatly displeased at this, and he struck down Israel.
8 David said to God, “I have sinned grievously in doing this. I beg you now, take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 [b]The Lord then spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 “Go and speak to David saying: Thus says the Lord: ‘I will offer you three options. Choose one of them so that I might do it to you.’ ”
11 Gad came to David and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself 12 three years of famine, or three months of being defeated by your enemies, with the swords of your foes striking you down, or else three days of the sword of the Lord. Plague will be in the land, and the angel of the Lord will cause destruction all throughout the territory of Israel.’ Think about the answer I should take back to him who sent me.”
13 David said to Gad, “I am greatly distressed. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are truly great. Let me not fall into human hands.”
14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand people fell because of it. 15 God also sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying it, the Lord regretted the disaster, and he said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Hold back your hand!”
Ornan’s Threshing Floor. So the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite.
16 David looked up, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and the heavens, holding a drawn sword in his hands that was stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the elders fell down upon their faces, clothed in sackcloth.[c]
17 David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the census of the people? I am the one who sinned, for I have truly done what was wrong. As for these sheep, what have they done? O Lord, my God, let your hand be against me and my father’s household, but let your people not suffer from the plague.”
18 The angel of the Lord then commanded Gad to tell David that David should go and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. 19 So David went up as Gad, who spoke in the name of the Lord, had said.
20 Ornan turned around, and he saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him went and hid themselves while Ornan remained on the threshing floor.
21 David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked out and saw David. He went out from the threshing floor and bowed down with his face to the ground before David. 22 David said to Ornan, “Give me this place, the threshing floor, so that I can build an altar to the Lord on it. Sell it to me at full price so that the plague can be withdrawn from the people.”
23 Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself. Let my lord, the king, do what he sees fit. Behold, I will also give you the oxen for burnt offering and the instruments used for threshing for wood and wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all to you.”
24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, I will surely pay you the full price. I will not take anything from you for the Lord, nor will I offer any burnt offering that did not cost me anything.”
25 David gave Ornan the weight of six hundred shekels of gold for the site. 26 David then built an altar to the Lord there, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by sending fire upon the altar of the burnt offerings.
27 The Lord gave the command to the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath. 28 David then realized that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and he performed a sacrifice there.
29 At that time, the tabernacle of the Lord that Moses had made and the altar of burnt offerings were at the high place in Gibeon. 30 But David could not go in to make inquiry of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan took his stand: again the Chronicler colors David’s behavior in a favorable light. Satan’s presence takes the full responsibility for the decision to order a census off of David. It remains his choice, however, just as any temptation that we give in to. The census was sinful because it showed a lack of respect for God’s power.
- 1 Chronicles 21:9 David is not the one who will build the temple. But the Chronicler wants to attribute to him at least the initiative in this undertaking. Thus the king makes careful preparations for the building, and Solomon simply executes his plans. David’s liturgical work will mark the completion of the unity he is seeking, by bringing the entire people together in the one temple.
- 1 Chronicles 21:16 This verse, which is peculiar to the Chronicler, presupposes a new way of imagining the angels (see Dan 9:21; 2 Mac 10:29).
1 Chronicles 21
King James Version
21 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
2 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.
3 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?
4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
5 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.
6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.
8 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.
9 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.
1 Chronicles 21
Good News Translation
David Takes a Census(A)
21 Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census. 2 David gave orders to Joab and the other officers, “Go through Israel, from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are.”
3 Joab answered, “May the Lord make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now! Your Majesty, they are all your servants. Why do you want to do this and make the whole nation guilty?” 4 But the king made Joab obey the order. Joab went out, traveled through the whole country of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem. 5 He reported to King David the total number of men capable of military service: 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. 6 Because Joab disapproved of the king's command, he did not take any census of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.
7 God was displeased with what had been done, so he punished Israel. 8 David said to God, “I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.”
9 Then the Lord said to Gad, David's prophet, 10 “Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses.”
11 Gad went to David, told him what the Lord had said, and asked, “Which is it to be? 12 Three years of famine? Or three months of running away from the armies of your enemies? Or three days during which the Lord attacks you with his sword and sends an epidemic on your land, using his angel to bring death throughout Israel? What answer shall I give the Lord?”
13 David replied to Gad, “I am in a desperate situation! But I don't want to be punished by people. Let the Lord himself be the one to punish me, because he is merciful.”
14 So the Lord sent an epidemic on the people of Israel, and seventy thousand of them died. 15 Then he sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but he changed his mind and said to the angel, “Stop! That's enough!” The angel was standing by the threshing place of Araunah, a Jebusite.
16 David saw the angel standing in midair, holding his sword in his hand, ready to destroy Jerusalem. Then David and the leaders of the people—all of whom were wearing sackcloth—bowed low, with their faces touching the ground. 17 David prayed, “O God, I am the one who did wrong. I am the one who ordered the census. What have these poor people done? Lord, my God, punish me and my family, and spare your people.”
18 The angel of the Lord told Gad to command David to go and build an altar to the Lord at Araunah's threshing place. 19 David obeyed the Lord's command and went, as Gad had told him to. 20 There at the threshing place Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat, and when they saw the angel, the sons ran and hid. 21 As soon as Araunah saw King David approaching, he left the threshing place and bowed low, with his face touching the ground. 22 David said to him, “Sell me your threshing place, so that I can build an altar to the Lord, to stop the epidemic. I'll give you the full price.”
23 “Take it, Your Majesty,” Araunah said, “and do whatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar, and here are the threshing boards to use as fuel, and wheat to give as an offering. I give it all to you.”
24 But the king answered, “No, I will pay you the full price. I will not give as an offering to the Lord something that belongs to you, something that costs me nothing.” 25 And he paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for the threshing place. 26 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn the sacrifices on the altar.
27 The Lord told the angel to put his sword away, and the angel obeyed. 28 David saw by this that the Lord had answered his prayer, so he offered sacrifices on the altar at Araunah's threshing place. 29 The Tent of the Lord's presence which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar on which sacrifices were burned were still at the place of worship at Gibeon at this time; 30 but David was not able to go there to worship God, because he was afraid of the sword of the Lord's angel.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
