2 Samuel 24:1-10

Common English Bible

David’s census

24 The Lord burned with anger against Israel again, and he incited David against them: Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.

² So the king said to Joab and the military commanders^[a] who were with him, “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people so I know how many people there are.”

³ Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God increase the number of people a hundred times while the eyes of my master the king can still see it! But why does my master the king want to do this?”

⁴ But the king’s word overruled Joab and the military commanders. So Joab and the commanders left the king’s presence to take a census of the Israelites. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan River and began from Aroer and from^[b] the town that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, then on to Jazer. ⁶ They continued to Gilead and on to Kadesh in Hittite territory.^[c] They came to Dan^[d] and went around to Sidon. ⁷ They went to the fortress of Tyre and to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites. They went out to Beer-sheba in the arid southern plain of Judah. ⁸ At the end of nine months and twenty days, after going through the entire country, they came back to Jerusalem. ⁹ Joab reported to the king the number of the people who had been counted: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand strong men who could handle a sword; in Judah the total was five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰ But after this David felt terrible that he had counted the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, please take away the guilt of your servant because I have done something very foolish.”