Chronological
David Takes a Census of Israel(A)
24 Later, God’s anger blazed forth against Israel, so he incited David to move against them by telling him, “Go take a census of Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king ordered Joab, commander of the special forces, who was with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and take a census of the people so I can be made aware of the total number.”
3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord your God increase the population of the people a hundredfold while your majesty the king is still alive to see it happen! But why does your majesty the king want to do this?”
4 But the king’s order overruled Joab and the commanders of the special forces, so Joab and the commanders of the special forces left David’s presence to take a census of the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan River,[a] encamped at Aroer south of the town that is located in the river valley, proceeding through Gad and then on toward Jazer. 6 They went on to Gilead and the territory of Tahtim-hodshi, then on toward Dan. From Dan they went around to Sidon 7 and arrived at the fortified city of Tyre and all of the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites.
Eventually they proceeded to Beer-sheba in the Judean Negev.[b] 8 After they had traveled throughout the entire land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days. 9 Joab reported the total number of men to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 men trained for war.[c] In Judah there were 500,000.
Discipline for David’s Sin(B)
10 Later, David’s conscience bothered[d] him after he had numbered the army,[e] so David told the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by what I did. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly.”
11 Before David arose the next morning, this message from the Lord came to Gad, David’s seer: 12 “Go tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I’m holding three choices out for you: pick one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.”’”
13 So Gad went to David and asked him, “Shall seven years of famine come to your land, or three months of reversals[f] while you flee from your enemies as they pursue you, or three days of pestilence in your land? Decide right now what I am to answer to the one who sent me.”
14 So David replied to Gad, “This is a very difficult choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the Lord, since his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!”
15 That very morning, the Lord sent a pestilence to Israel until the conclusion of the time designated, and 70,000 men[g] died from Dan to Beer-sheba. 16 As the angel was stretching out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord was grieved because of the calamity, so he told the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Stay your hand!” So the angel of the Lord remained near the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah[h] the Jebusite.[i]
17 When David saw the angel who had been attacking the people, he told the Lord, “Look, I’m the one who has sinned! I did the evil. These are only sheep! What did they do? Please, let your hand fall on me and on my household!”
David Buys Araunah’s Threshing Floor(C)
18 That very day, Gad approached David and told him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor that belongs to Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up, just as Gad had ordered, consistent with the Lord’s command.
20 When Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his staff approaching him. Araunah went out, bowed down before the king with his face on the ground, 21 and asked[j] him, “Why has your majesty the king come to his servant?”
David replied, “To purchase your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord, so the pestilence can be averted from the people.”
22 Araunah responded to David, “May your majesty the king take it and offer whatever pleases him. Here are oxen for a burnt offering, along with the threshing sledges and yokes from the oxen for wood! 23 Your majesty, Araunah gives all of this[k] to the king.” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you!”
24 “No!” the king replied to Araunah. “I will buy them from you at full[l] price. I won’t offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 silver shekels,[m] 25 built[n] an altar to the Lord there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord answered David’s prayers for the land[o] and the pestilence on Israel was averted.
David’s Unauthorized Census(A)
21 Then Satan attacked Israel by inciting David to enumerate a census of Israel. 2 David ordered Joab and the commanders of the army,[a] “Go take a census of Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report so I can be aware of the total number.”
3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the population of his people a hundredfold! Your majesty,[b] all of them are your majesty’s servants, aren’t they? So why should your majesty demand this? Why should he bring guilt to Israel?”
4 But the king’s order overruled Joab, so Joab left, traveled throughout all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem 5 to report the total population count to David. Throughout all of Israel there were 1,100,000 men trained for war.[c] In Judah there were 470,000 men trained for war. 6 Levi and Benjamin were not included in the census, because what the king had commanded was unethical to Joab.
David Chooses His Punishment(B)
7 God considered this behavior[d] to be evil, so he attacked Israel. 8 David responded to God, “I sinned greatly by behaving this way. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly.”
9 So the Lord responded through Gad, David’s seer. 10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I’m holding three choices out for you: pick one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.”’”[e]
11 Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Make a choice for yourself: 12 Either three years of famine, or three months of reversals[f] as you are swept away by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days with the sword of the Lord, consisting of pestilence infecting the land, with the angel of the Lord wreaking destruction from border to border throughout all[g] of Israel.’ Decide right now what I am to answer to the one who sent me.”
13 So David replied to Gad, “This is a very bad choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the Lord, because his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!”
14 Then the Lord sent a pestilence to Israel, and 70,000 men died in Israel. 15 God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as he was about to do so, the Lord looked and withdrew[h] the calamity by saying to the destroying angel, “Enough! Stop what you’re doing!”[i]
So the angel of the Lord remained standing near the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan[j] the Jebusite.[k] 16 David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 David told God, “Wasn’t I the one who ordered the census of the population? Wasn’t it I who sinned and acted wickedly? Now as for these sheep, what have they done? Lord God, please let your hand be against me and my ancestral household, but don’t let your people be ravaged by plague!”
David’s Altar(C)
18 The angel of the Lord told Gad to tell David that David was to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up, obeying Gad’s directive that he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Ornan turned around and saw the angel. While his four sons with him ran away to hide, Ornan continued to thresh wheat. 21 As David approached Ornan, Ornan looked around and observed David, left the threshing floor, and fell to the ground before David with his face on the ground.
22 David told Ornan, “Give me the threshing floor as a site to build an altar to the Lord on it. Give it to me at its full price, so the plague may be averted from the people.”
23 But Ornan replied to David, “Take it! Let your majesty the king do whatever seems like a good idea to him. Look here! I’m giving the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing machinery for the wood, and the wheat for a grain offering. I’m giving all of it.”
24 But King David told Ornan, “No. I will buy them for the full price[l] because I will not offer to the Lord what is yours or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
25 So David paid Ornan 600 shekels weight worth in gold for the site, 26 built an altar to the Lord there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called out to the Lord, and he answered him from heaven with fire on the altar of burnt offerings. 27 After this, the Lord spoke to the angel, who then sheathed his sword.
28 From that time on, after David had observed that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made his sacrifices there. 29 Meanwhile, the tent of the Lord that Moses had crafted in the desert, along with the altar of burnt offerings, were being stored at the high place in Gibeon at that time, 30 but David was not going before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword carried by the angel of the Lord. 22 1 David said, “This is where the Lord God’s Temple will be, along with the altar of burnt offerings for Israel.”
David’s Plan to Build the Temple
2 David subsequently issued orders to conscript the resident aliens who lived in the land of Israel and appointed stonecutters to prepare stones for building a temple for God. 3 David also provisioned abundant supplies of iron for nails to build the doors for gates and to build clamps. Furthermore, he provided so much bronze it wasn’t inventoried, 4 as well as an innumerable amount of cedar logs, since the Sidonians and Tyrians brought vast amounts of cedar to David.
5 David thought, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced. The temple that will be built for the Lord is to be magnificent, well known, and internationally honored, so I will complete preparations for it.” So before his death, David finished providing a great quantity of materials for it.
David Commissions Solomon to Build the Temple
6 Later, David called for his son Solomon and directed him to build a temple to the Lord God of Israel. 7 David addressed Solomon: “I have attempted to build a temple to the name of the Lord my God. 8 But this message from the Lord came to me, telling me
‘You have shed a lot of blood and fought great battles. You won’t be building a house for my name, since you have shed so much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 But look! A son born to you will live comfortably,[m] because I will give him rest from all his enemies that surround him on every side, since his name will be “Solomon”—I will give peace and quiet for Israel during his lifetime. 10 He will build a temple to my name. He will be a son to me, I myself will be a father to him, and I will secure his royal throne in Israel forever.’
11 So now, my son, may the Lord be with you, so that you are successful in constructing the Temple of the Lord your God, just as he has spoken about you.
12 “Only may the Lord give you discretion and understanding as he places you in charge over Israel, so you can keep the Law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will be successful, if you keep on observing the statutes and ordinances that the Lord commanded Moses concerning Israel. Be strong, be courageous, and never give in to fear or dismay. 14 At great effort I have provided for the Temple of the Lord 100,000 gold talents,[n] 1,000,000 silver talents,[o] as well as bronze and iron beyond calculation, since there is so much of it. I’ve also provided timber and stone, but you’ll need to obtain more. 15 You already have plenty of workers, including stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and an innumerable group of artisans who are skilled at working in 16 gold, silver, bronze, and iron. So begin the work, and may the Lord be with you.”
17 David also issued these orders to all of the leaders of Israel to assist his son Solomon: 18 “Isn’t the Lord your God with you? Hasn’t he surrounded you with comfort? He has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my control, and the land lies subdued both in the Lord’s presence and before his people. 19 So set your minds and hearts to seek the Lord your God, to get up, and to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be stored in a temple built for the name of the Lord.”
A Davidic Psalm for the dedication of the Temple.
Thanksgiving for Deliverance
30 I exalt you, Lord,
for you have lifted me up,
and my enemies could not gloat over me.
2 Lord, my God!
I cried out to you for help
and you healed me.
3 Lord, you brought me from death;[a]
you kept me alive so that I did not descend into the Pit.[b]
4 You, his godly ones,
sing to the Lord,
give thanks at the mention of his holiness.
5 For his wrath is only momentary;
yet his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may lodge for the night,
but shouts of joy will come in the morning.
6 As for me,
I said in my prosperity,
“I will never be moved.”
7 By your favor, Lord,
you established me as a strong mountain;
Then you hid your face,
and I was dismayed.
8 I cried out to you, Lord,
and I make supplication to the Lord:
9 “What profit is there in my death[c] if I go down to the Pit?[d]
Can dust worship you?
Can it proclaim your faithfulness?”
10 Hear me, Lord,
and have mercy on me!
Lord, help me!
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you took off my sackcloth
and clothed me with a garment of joy,
12 so that I may sing praise to you
and not remain silent.
Lord, my God,
I will give you thanks forever!
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.