⁹ Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.^(A)

²³ David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less,^(A) because the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars^(B) in the sky. ²⁴ Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. God’s wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering,^(C) and the number was not entered in the book^[a] of the annals of King David.

⁵ Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel^(A) there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

⁶ But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him.

⁴⁴ These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron^(A) and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. ⁴⁵ All the Israelites twenty years old or more^(B) who were able to serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families.^{(C) 46} The total number was 603,550.^(D)