⁷ And this thing was displeasing in the sight of God, so He struck Israel. ⁸ Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. ^(A)But now, please take away the iniquity of Your slave, for I have acted very foolishly.”

⁹ And Yahweh spoke to ^(B)Gad, David’s ^(C)seer, saying, ¹⁰ “Go and speak to David, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I ^[a]am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.”’” ¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Take for yourself ^12 (D)either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your adversaries, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ So now, see what word I should return to Him who sent me.” ¹³ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me now fall into the hand of Yahweh, ^(E)for His compassions are exceedingly abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

^14 (F)So Yahweh ^[b]sent a pestilence against Israel; and 70,000 men of Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and ^[c](G)relented concerning the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough! Now relax your hand.” And the angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of ^[d]Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of Yahweh 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 number the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done a great evil; ^(I)but these sheep, what have they done? O Yahweh my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”