God said, “Go and tell this to my servant David: The Lord says, ‘David, you are not the one to build a house for me to live in.

“Now, tell this to my servant David: The Lord All-Powerful says, ‘I took you from the fields and from taking care of the sheep. I made you king of my people Israel.

Gad was David’s seer. The Lord said to Gad, “Go and tell David: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to give you three choices. You must choose one of them. Then I will punish you the way you choose.’”

Then Gad went to David. He said to David, “The Lord says, ‘David, choose which punishment you want: three years without enough food, or three months of running away from your enemies while they use their swords to chase you, or three days of punishment from the Lord. Terrible sicknesses will spread through the country, and the Lord’s angel will go through Israel destroying the people.’ David, God sent me. Now, you must decide which answer I will give to him.”

Now give your heart and soul to the Lord your God, and do what he says. Build the holy place of the Lord God. Then bring the Box of the Lord’s Agreement and all the other holy things into the Temple built for the Lord’s name.”