⁷ Now ^[a]God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. ⁸ David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, ^[b]by doing this thing. ^(A)But now, please overlook Your servant’s guilt, for I have behaved very foolishly.”

⁹ The Lord spoke to ^(B)Gad, David’s ^(C)seer, saying, ¹⁰ “Go and speak to David, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I extend to you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’” ¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take for yourself ^12 (D)three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord: a plague in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout the territory of Israel.’ Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall bring back to Him who sent me.” ¹³ David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, ^(E)for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into human hands.”

^14 (F)So the Lord ^[c]sent a plague on Israel; seventy thousand men of Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and ^(G)was sorry about the catastrophe, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now relax your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of ^[d]Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ Then David raised his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, ^(H)covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. ¹⁷ And David said to God, “Is it not I who ^[e]commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly, ^(I)but these sheep, what have they done? Lord, my God, just let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, and not against Your people as a plague.”