2 Samuel 24
EasyEnglish Bible
David counts his soldiers
24 The Lord again became angry with the Israelites. So he caused David to bring trouble to them. He said to David, ‘Send men to count the people in Israel and Judah.’
2 So the king said to Joab, the leader of his army, ‘Go from Dan to Beersheba, through all the tribes of Israel.[a] Count all the men who can fight. I want to know how many men there are.’
3 But Joab said to the king, ‘I pray that the Lord your God will make your army bigger and bigger. May it grow 100 times while you are alive to see it! But, my lord the king, why do you want to do this?’
4 But Joab and his officers had to obey the king's command. So Joab and the officers of the army went out to count the number of people in Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan River. They made their first camp in a valley, on the south side of Aroer. Then they went through Gad's land and they reached Jazer. 6 They went from there to Gilead. Then they went to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites. Then they went to Dan and they continued west to Sidon. 7 Then they went south to Tyre, a strong city with walls around it. They went to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they arrived at Beersheba in the south part of Judah.
8 In that way, they travelled through the whole country. After nine months and 20 days they returned to Jerusalem.
9 Joab reported to the king about the number of soldiers who could fight. There were 800,000 men in Israel who could use a sword to fight. There were also 500,000 soldiers in Judah.
The Lord punishes David
10 David had counted the men who were able to fight in his army. But now he was sorry that he had done it. He said to the Lord, ‘What I have done was a bad sin. Please forgive me, Lord. I have done a foolish thing.’
11 While David slept that night, the Lord gave a message to Gad, David's prophet. 12 The Lord told him, ‘Go and give my message to David: “There are three ways that I could punish you. You must choose one of them, and that is what I will do to punish you.” ’
13 So when David woke up, Gad went to him and he said, ‘You may choose to have three years when there will be a famine in the whole country. Or you may choose to have three months when your enemies are chasing after you. Or you may choose to have three days of very bad disease in the whole country. Now think carefully and decide. I will take your answer to God, who sent me with this message.’
14 David said to Gad, ‘I am very upset. I do not want men to punish me. The Lord is kind and he forgives people. So it would be better for him to punish me.’
15 So, from that morning, the Lord caused a bad disease to kill people in Israel. It continued for three days, as the Lord had said. 70,000 Israelite men died in that time, in the whole country, from Dan to Beersheba. 16 The Lord's angel was ready to destroy Jerusalem. But the Lord decided to stop the trouble that he was causing for the people. He said to the angel who was killing the people, ‘That is enough. Stop what you are doing!’ When the Lord said that, his angel was standing near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 David saw the angel who was killing the people. So he said to the Lord, ‘I am the person who has done an evil thing. These people have followed me like sheep that follow a shepherd. They have not done anything wrong. You should only punish me and my family.’
David builds an altar
18 That day, Gad went to David. He said to David, ‘Go up to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Build an altar there to worship the Lord.’ 19 So David obeyed the Lord's message that Gad had spoken to him.
20 When Araunah looked, he saw the king and his officers. They were coming towards him. So he went out and he bent down low in front of the king, with his face towards the ground.
21 Araunah said, ‘My lord the king, why have you come here to me, your servant?’
David replied, ‘I have come to buy your threshing floor from you. I want to build an altar here to worship the Lord. Then he will stop this bad disease from killing the people.’
22 Araunah said to David, ‘My lord the king, take anything that you would like to offer to the Lord. You can take these oxen to offer as sacrifices. You can use the wood from these tools and yokes to make a fire. 23 I will give all these things to you sir, my lord the king.’
Araunah also said to the king, ‘I pray that the Lord your God will accept your offerings.’
24 But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, I must pay you for it. I will not burn as an offering to the Lord my God any sacrifice that costs me nothing.’
So David bought Araunah's threshing floor and his oxen for 50 silver coins. 25 Then he built an altar there to worship the Lord. He made burnt offerings and friendship offerings on the altar.
Then the Lord answered David's prayer. The disease stopped killing people in Israel.
Footnotes
- 24:2 ‘from Dan to Beersheba’ was the whole country. Dan was at the north border of Israel. Beersheba was near the south border.
2 Samuel 24
Legacy Standard Bible
David Sins in Taking a Census
24 (A)And (B)again the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “(C)Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the military force who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, (D)from Dan to Beersheba, and [a]take a census of the people, that I may know the total count of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, “(E)Now may Yahweh your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word stood strong against Joab and against the commanders of the military force. So Joab and the commanders of the military force went out from the presence of the king to [b]take a census of the people of Israel. 5 And they crossed the Jordan and camped in (F)Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward (G)Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to [c]the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to (H)Sidon, 7 and came to the (I)fortified city of Tyre and to all the cities of the (J)Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to (K)Beersheba. 8 So they had gone about through the whole land, and they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave (L)the total count of the [d]census of the people to the king; and there were in Israel (M)800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.
10 Then (N)David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. So David said to Yahweh, “(O)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, please [e]take away the iniquity of Your slave, for (P)I have acted very foolishly.” 11 Then David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to (Q)the prophet Gad, David’s (R)seer, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.”’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall (S)seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, know and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, (T)for His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
15 So (U)Yahweh [f]sent a pestilence against Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 men of the people (V)from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 (W)Then the angel sent forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and (X)Yahweh [g]relented of the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, (Y)it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done unrighteousness; but (Z)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and my father’s house.”
David Erects an Altar
18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “(AA)Go up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of [h]Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up according to the word of Gad, just as Yahweh had commanded. 20 And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh, (AB)that the plague may be checked from being upon the people.” 22 And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, (AC)the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God (AD)accept you.” 24 However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for (AE)I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God [i]which cost me nothing.” So (AF)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty [j]shekels of silver. 25 Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. (AG)Thus Yahweh was moved by the entreaty for the land, and the plague was checked from being upon Israel.
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 24:2 Lit muster
- 2 Samuel 24:4 Lit muster
- 2 Samuel 24:6 Or Kadesh in the land of the Hittite
- 2 Samuel 24:9 Lit muster
- 2 Samuel 24:10 Lit cause to pass away
- 2 Samuel 24:15 Lit gave
- 2 Samuel 24:16 Or regretted, cf. 15:11, 29, 35
- 2 Samuel 24:18 In 2 Chr 3:1, Ornan
- 2 Samuel 24:24 Lit gratuitously
- 2 Samuel 24:24 A shekel was approx. 0.4 oz. or 11 gm
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