The Census Taken

24 ^(A)Now ^(B)the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again, and He incited David against them to say, “^(C)Go, count Israel and Judah.” ² So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, ^(D)from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people.” ³ But Joab said to the king, “^(E)May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴ Nevertheless, the king’s order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel. ⁵ 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 ^[a]the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ^(H)Sidon, ⁷ then they came to the ^(I)fortress 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 when they had roamed about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹ And Joab gave ^(L)the number of the census of the people to the king: in Israel there were ^(M)eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰ Now ^(N)David’s heart ^[b]troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the Lord, “^(O)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, Lord, please ^[c]overlook the guilt of Your servant, for ^(P)I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹ When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(Q)Gad the prophet, David’s ^(R)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it 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 for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall 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 the Lord, ^(T)for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

Plague Sent

¹⁵ So ^(U)the Lord ^[d]sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people ^(V)from Dan to Beersheba died. ^16 (W)When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, ^(X)the Lord relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now drop your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord 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 wrong; but ^(Z)these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house!”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^(AA)Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^[e]Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ Then David went up in accordance with the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. ²⁰ And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so 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 the Lord, ^(AB)so that the plague may be ^[f]withdrawn from the people.” ²² Araunah then said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, here are ^(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 the Lord your God be ^(AD)favorable to you.” ²⁴ However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for ^(AE)I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God ^[g]that cost me nothing.” So ^(AF)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵ Then David built there an altar to the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And ^(AG)the Lord responded to prayer for the land, and the plague was ^[h]withdrawn from Israel.

Sonship in Christ

4 Now I say, as long as the heir is a ^[a]child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is ^[b]owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and ^[c]managers until the ^[d]date set by the father. ³ So we too, when we were children, were held ^(A)in bondage under the ^[e](B)elementary principles of the world. ⁴ But when ^(C)the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, ^(D)born of a woman, born ^(E)under ^[f]the Law, ⁵ so that He might redeem those who were under ^[g]the Law, that we might receive the adoption as ^(F)sons and daughters. ⁶ Because you are sons, ^(G)God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “^(H)Abba! ^[h]Father!” ⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and ^(I)if a son, then an heir ^[i]through God.

⁸ However at that time, ^(J)when you did not know God, you were ^(K)slaves to ^(L)those which by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be ^(M)known by God, ^(N)how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless ^[j](O)elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? ¹⁰ You ^(P)meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored ^[k]over you in vain.

¹² I beg of you, ^(Q)brothers and sisters, ^(R)become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; ¹³ but you know that it was because of a ^[l]bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the ^[m]first time; ¹⁴ and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my ^[n]bodily condition, nor express contempt, but ^(S)you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. ¹⁵ Where then is ^[o]that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ So have I become your enemy ^(T)by ^[p]telling you the truth? ¹⁷ They eagerly seek you, not ^[q]in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them. ¹⁸ But it is good always to be eagerly sought ^[r]in a commendable way, and ^(U)not only when I am present with you. ^19 (V)My children, with whom ^(W)I am again in labor until ^(X)Christ is formed in you— ²⁰ but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for ^(Y)I am at a loss about you!

Slave and Free

²¹ Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not ^(Z)listen to the Law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, ^(AA)one by the slave woman and ^(AB)one by the free woman. ²³ But ^(AC)the son by the slave woman ^[s]was born according to the flesh, and ^(AD)the son by the free woman through the promise. ^24 [t](AE)This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from ^(AF)Mount Sinai giving birth to children ^[u]who are to be ^(AG)slaves; ^[v]she is Hagar. ²⁵ Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is enslaved with her children. ²⁶ But ^(AH)the Jerusalem above is free; ^[w]she is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written:

²⁸ And you, brothers and sisters, ^(AJ)like Isaac, are ^(AK)children of promise. ²⁹ But as at that time ^(AL)the son who was born according to the flesh ^(AM)persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, ^(AN)so it is even now. ³⁰ But what does the Scripture say?

³¹ So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.