David’s Punishment

¹¹ When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad,^(A) David’s seer:^{(B) 12} “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’”

¹³ So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three^[a] years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, consider carefully^[b] what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”

¹⁴ David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are great,^(C) but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died. ¹⁶ Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,^(D) but the Lord relented concerning the destruction^(E) and said to the angel who was destroying^(F) the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah^[c] the Jebusite.^(G)

¹⁷ When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one^[d] who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand be against me and my father’s family.”