1 Chronicles 21:7-17

Revised Standard Version

⁷ But God was displeased with this thing, and he smote Israel. ⁸ And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.” ⁹ And the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹⁰ “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” ¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Take which you will: ¹² either three years of famine; or three months of devastation by your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence upon the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹³ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell seventy thousand men of Israel. ¹⁵ And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but when he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he repented of the evil; and he said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jeb′usite. ¹⁶ And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. ¹⁷ And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father’s house; but let not the plague be upon thy people.”