2 Samuel 24
New English Translation
David Displeases the Lord by Taking a Census
24 The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go count Israel and Judah.”[a] 2 The king told Joab, the general in command of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army.”
3 Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?”
4 But the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of[b] Joab and the leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army.
5 They crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, on the south side of the city, at[c] the wadi of Gad, near Jazer. 6 Then they went on to Gilead and to the region of Tahtim Hodshi, coming to Dan Jaan and on around to Sidon. 7 Then they went to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beer Sheba. 8 They went through all the land and after nine months and twenty days came back to Jerusalem.
9 Joab reported the number of warriors[d] to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers.
10 David felt guilty[e] after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
11 When David got up the next morning, the Lord’s message had already come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: 12 “Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord has said: I am offering you three forms of judgment. Pick one of them and I will carry it out against you.’”
13 Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven[f] years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemies with them in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide[g] what I should tell the one who sent me.” 14 David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer that we be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is great; I do not want to be attacked by human hands!”[h]
15 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time, and 70,000 people died from Dan to Beer Sheba. 16 When the angel[i] extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment.[j] He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!”[k] (Now the angel of the Lord was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)
17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep—what have they done? Attack me and my family.”[l]
David Acquires a Threshing Floor and Constructs an Altar There
18 So Gad went to David that day and told him, “Go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do, according to the Lord’s instructions.
20 When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants approaching him, he[m] went out and bowed to the king with his face[n] to the ground. 21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.” 22 Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes[o] and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges[p] and harnesses[q] for wood. 23 I, the servant of my lord[r] the king, give it all to the king!” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God show you favor!” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver.[s] 25 Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 24:1 sn The parallel text in 1 Chr 21:1 says, “An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.” The Samuel version gives an underlying theological perspective, while the Chronicler simply describes what happened from a human perspective. The adversary in 1 Chr 21:1 is likely a human enemy, probably a nearby nation whose hostility against Israel pressured David into numbering the people so he could assess his military strength. See the note at 1 Chr 21:1.
- 2 Samuel 24:4 tn Heb “and the word of the king was stronger than.”
- 2 Samuel 24:5 tn Heb “in the middle of.”
- 2 Samuel 24:9 tn Heb “and Joab gave the number of the numbering of the people.”
- 2 Samuel 24:10 tn Heb “and the heart of David struck him.”
- 2 Samuel 24:13 tc The LXX has here “three” rather than “seven,” and is followed by NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT. See 1 Chr 21:12.
- 2 Samuel 24:13 tn Heb “now know and see.”
- 2 Samuel 24:14 tn Heb “There is great distress to me. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for great is his mercy, but into the hand of man let me not fall.”
- 2 Samuel 24:16 tn Heb “messenger.”
- 2 Samuel 24:16 tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”
- 2 Samuel 24:16 tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”
- 2 Samuel 24:17 tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”
- 2 Samuel 24:20 tn Heb “Araunah.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
- 2 Samuel 24:20 tn Heb “nostrils.”
- 2 Samuel 24:22 tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”
- 2 Samuel 24:22 sn Threshing sledges were heavy boards used in ancient times for loosening grain from husks. On the bottom sides of these boards sharp stones were embedded, and the boards were then dragged across the grain on a threshing floor by an ox or donkey.
- 2 Samuel 24:22 tn Heb “the equipment of the oxen.”
- 2 Samuel 24:23 tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation reads עֶבֶד אֲדֹנִי (ʿeved ʾadoni, “the servant of my lord”) rather than the MT’s אֲרַוְנָה (ʾAravnah). In normal court etiquette a subject would not use his own name in this way, but would more likely refer to himself in the third person. The MT probably first sustained loss of עֶבֶד (ʿeved, “servant”), leading to confusion of the word for “my lord” with the name of the Jebusite referred to here.
- 2 Samuel 24:24 tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.
2 Samuel 24
Expanded Bible
David Counts His Army(A)
24 The ·Lord was angry with [L anger of the Lord burned against; C compare 1 Chr. 21:1] Israel again, and he ·caused [incited] David to turn against the Israelites. He said, “Go, ·count [number; take a census of] the people of Israel and Judah.”
2 So King David said to Joab, the commander of the army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba [C the far north and south of Israel], and ·count [take a census of; register; number] the people. Then I will know how many there are.”
3 But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God give you a hundred times more ·people [soldiers], and may my master the king live to see this happen. ·Why do you [L But why does my lord the king] want to do this?”
4 But the ·king commanded [L king’s word overruled/prevailed against] Joab and the commanders of the army, so they left the king to ·count [take a census of; register; number] the Israelites [C taking the census indicates David’s ungodly dependence on the number of his troops].
5 After crossing the Jordan River, they camped near Aroer on the south side of the city in the ·ravine [valley]. They went through Gad and on to Jazer. 6 Then they went to Gilead and the land of Tahtim Hodshi and to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon. 7 They went to the ·strong, walled city [fortress] of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went to ·southern [L the Negev of] Judah, to Beersheba. 8 After nine months and twenty days, they had gone through all the land. Then they came back to Jerusalem.
9 Joab ·gave the list of the people [reported the number of soldiers] to the king. There were eight hundred thousand men in Israel who could ·use [draw; handle] the sword and five hundred thousand men in Judah.
10 ·David felt ashamed [L David’s heart/conscience troubled him] after he had ·counted [taken a census of; registered; numbered] the people. He said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by what I have done. Lord, I beg you to ·forgive me, [L take away the guilt/iniquity of] your servant, because I have been very foolish.”
11 When David got up in the morning, the ·Lord spoke his word [L word of the Lord came] to Gad, who was a prophet and David’s seer. 12 The Lord told Gad, “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I offer you three ·choices [options; things]. Choose one of them and I will ·do it to [inflict it on] you.’”
13 So Gad [1 Sam. 22:5] went to David and said to him, “Should ·three [C so 1 Chr. 21:12; the Hebrew text has “seven”] years of ·hunger [famine] come to you and your land? Or should ·your enemies chase you [L you flee from your pursuing enemies] for three months? Or should there be three days of ·disease [epidemics; pestilence; plagues] in your land? Think about it. Then decide ·which of these things [what answer] I should ·tell [give] the Lord who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “I am in ·great [deep] ·trouble [distress]. Let ·the Lord punish us [L us fall into the hands of the Lord], because ·the Lord is very merciful [L his mercy is great]. Don’t let ·my punishment come from human beings [L me fall into human hands]!”
15 So the Lord sent a ·terrible disease [epidemic; pestilence; plague] on Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the ·chosen time to stop [appointed time]. From Dan to Beersheba [C from the far north and the far south of Israel] seventy thousand people died. 16 When the angel raised his ·arm [L hand] toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord ·felt very sorry about the terrible things that had happened [relented about the calamity/disaster]. He said to the angel who was ·destroying [afflicting] the people, “That is enough! ·Put down [Stay; Withdraw] your ·arm [L hand]!” The angel of the Lord was ·then [at that moment] by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel that ·killed [L was striking down/ravaging] the people, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who sinned and did wrong. ·These people only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong [L What have these sheep done?]. Please ·punish me and my family [L let your hand fall on me and my father’s house].”
18 That day Gad came to David and said, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David did what Gad told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.
20 Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and ·bowed facedown [prostrated himself] on the ground before the king. 21 He said, “Why has my ·master [lord] the king come to ·me [L his servant]?”
David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you so I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the ·terrible disease [epidemic; pestilence; plague] will ·stop [be averted/lifted/withheld from the people].”
22 Araunah said to David, “My ·master [lord] and king, you may take anything you want for a ·sacrifice [offering]. Here are some oxen for the whole burnt offering and the threshing ·boards [sledges] and the yokes for the wood. 23 My king, I give ·everything [all this] to you.” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God ·be pleased with [respond favorably to; accept] you.”
24 But the king answered Araunah, “No, I ·will pay you for [insist on buying] the land. I won’t ·offer [sacrifice] to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for ·one and one-fourth pounds [L fifty shekels] of silver. 25 He built an altar to the Lord there and ·offered [sacrificed] whole burnt offerings and ·fellowship [or peace; well-being; Lev. 3:1] offerings [C this site is the later location of the temple; 1 Chr. 22:1]. Then the Lord ·answered his [was moved by/felt pity from this] prayer for the country, and the ·disease [epidemic; pestilence; plague] in Israel ·stopped [was averted/lifted/withheld].
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