⁷ God was offended by this census and punished Israel. ⁸ Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done! Now please take away the guilt of your servant because I have done something very foolish.”

⁹ The Lord told Gad, David’s seer: ¹⁰ Go and tell David, This is what the Lord says: I’m offering you three punishments. Choose one of them, and that is what I will do to you.

¹¹ When Gad came to David, he said to him, “This is what the Lord says: Take your choice: ¹² three years of famine, three months of fleeing^[a] from your enemies while your enemies’ sword overtakes you, or three days of the Lord’s sword, that is, plague in the land and the Lord’s messenger bringing disaster in every part of Israel. Decide now what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”

¹³ “I’m in deep trouble,” David said to Gad. “I’d rather fall into the hands of the Lord, who is very merciful; don’t let me fall into human hands.” ¹⁴ So the Lord sent a plague throughout Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites fell dead.

¹⁵ Then God sent a messenger to Jerusalem to destroy it. But just as the messenger was about to destroy it, the Lord looked and changed his mind about the destruction. He said to the messenger who was destroying it, “That’s enough! Withdraw your hand!” At that time the Lord’s messenger was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁶ When David looked up, he saw the Lord’s messenger stationed between the earth and the sky with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out against Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, dressed in mourning clothes, fell on their faces; ¹⁷ and David said to God, “Wasn’t it I who ordered the numbering of the people? I’m the sinner, the one responsible for this evil. But these sheep—what have they done? Lord, my God, turn your hand against me and my household, but spare your people from the plague.”