¹¹ Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad^(A) the prophet, David’s seer:^{(B) 12} “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”

¹³ So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three^[a] years of famine^(C) in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague^(D) in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

¹⁴ David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy^(E) is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.^{(F) 16} When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented^(G) concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord^(H) was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd,^[b] have done wrong. These are but sheep.^(I) What have they done?^(J) Let your hand fall on me and my family.”^(K)