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Gad: 12-13 I am supposed to tell you this: “The Eternal says, ‘I will offer you three choices. Pick one, and that will be what I will do to you.’”

Do you want to have seven[a] years of famine in the land? Would you rather be on the run from your enemies for three months? Or shall a plague rage for three days through the land? Make a choice, and tell me what answer to give to the One who sent me.

David: 14 This is horrible! But I would rather fall by the hand of the Eternal, because He is merciful, than fall into human hands.

15 So the Eternal One sent a great plague that morning and for three days. It swept through Israel from Dan in the far north to Beersheba in the desert south, killing 70,000 people.

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Footnotes

  1. 24:12-13 Greek manuscripts read, “three.”

13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three[a] years of famine(A) in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague(B) in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

14 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy(C) is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Samuel 24:13 Septuagint (see also 1 Chron. 21:12); Hebrew seven