Chronological
David Decides to Count His Army
24 The Lord was angry with Israel again. He caused David to turn against the Israelites. He told David, “Go count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2 King David said to Joab, the captain of the army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba,[a] and count the people. Then I will know how many people there are.”
3 But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God give you 100 times as many people, no matter how many there are! And may your eyes see this thing happen. But why do you want to do this?”
4 King David strongly commanded Joab and the other captains of the army to count the people. So they went out from the king to count the people of Israel. 5 After they crossed over the Jordan River, they made their camp in Aroer on the right side of the city. (The city is in the middle of the valley of Gad, on the way to Jazer.)
6 Then they went east to Gilead, all the way to Tahtim Hodshi. Then they went north to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon. 7 They went to the fort of Tyre. They went to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites. Then they went south to Beersheba in the southern part of Judah. 8 It took them nine months and 20 days for them to go through the country. After nine months and 20 days they came back to Jerusalem.
9 Joab gave the list of the people to the king. There were 800,000 men in Israel who could use the sword. And there were 500,000 men in Judah.
The Lord Punishes David
10 David felt ashamed after he had counted the people and said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I did! Lord, I beg you, forgive me for my sin. I have been very foolish.”
11 When David got up in the morning, the Lord gave this message to Gad, David’s seer: 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: There are three ways you can be punished. Choose the one you want.’”
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Choose one of these three: seven[b] years of famine for you and your country, being chased by your enemies for three months, or three days of disease in your country. Think about it, and decide which one you want. I must give your answer to the one who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “This is a terrible situation to be in. But it would be better to be punished by the Lord than by anyone else, because he is very merciful.”
15 So the Lord sent a disease against Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop. From Dan to Beersheba 70,000 people died. 16 The angel raised his arm over Jerusalem and was ready to destroy it, but the Lord felt very sorry about the bad things that had happened. He said to the angel who destroyed the people, “That’s enough! Put down your arm.” The Lord’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah[c] the Jebusite.[d]
David Buys Araunah’s Threshing Floor
17 When he saw the angel who killed the people, David spoke to the Lord. David said, “I sinned! I did wrong! And these people only did what I told them—they only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong. Please let your punishment be against me and my father’s family.”
18 That day Gad came to David and said, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David did what Gad told him to. David did what the Lord wanted and went to see Araunah. 20 Araunah looked and saw King David and his officers coming to him. Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground. 21 He said, “Why has my lord and king come to me?”
David answered, “I came to buy the threshing floor from you. Then I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the disease will stop.”
22 Araunah said to David, “My lord and king, you can take anything you want for a sacrifice. Here are some oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood. 23 O King, I give everything to you!” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you.”
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No! I must pay you for everything. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. 25 Then David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
The Lord answered his prayer for the country. He stopped the disease in Israel.
David Sins by Counting Israel
21 Satan[a] was against the Israelites. He encouraged David to count the Israelites. 2 So David said to Joab and the leaders of the people, “Go and count all the Israelites. Count everyone in the country—from the town of Beersheba all the way to the town of Dan. Then tell me, so I will know how many people there are.”
3 But Joab answered, “May the Lord make his nation 100 times as large! Sir, all the Israelites are your servants. Why do you want to do this thing, my lord and king? You will make all the Israelites guilty of sin!”
4 But King David was stubborn. Joab had to do what the king said. So Joab left and went through all the country of Israel counting the people. Then he came back to Jerusalem 5 and told David how many people there were. In Israel there were 1,100,000 men who could use a sword. And there were 470,000 men in Judah who could use a sword. 6 Joab did not count the tribes of Levi and Benjamin because he did not like King David’s order. 7 David had done a bad thing in God’s sight, so God punished Israel.
God Punishes Israel
8 Then David said to God, “I have done something very foolish. I have committed a terrible sin by counting the Israelites. Now, I beg you to take the sin away from me, your servant.”
9-10 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.’”
11-12 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.”
13 David said to Gad, “I am in trouble! I don’t want some man to decide my punishment. The Lord is very merciful, so let him decide how to punish me.”
14 So the Lord sent terrible sicknesses to Israel, and 70,000 people died. 15 God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But when the angel started to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord saw it and felt sorry for all the suffering. So he said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Stop! That is enough!” This happened when the angel of the Lord was standing at the threshing floor of Araunah[b] the Jebusite.[c]
16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s angel in the sky. The angel was holding his sword over the city of Jerusalem. Then David and the elders bowed with their faces touching the ground. They were wearing the special clothes to show their sadness. 17 David said to God, “I am the one who sinned. I gave the order for the people to be counted! I was wrong. The Israelites did not do anything wrong. Lord my God, punish me and my family, but stop the terrible sicknesses that are killing your people.”
18 Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Gad. He said, “Tell David to build an altar to worship the Lord. David must build that altar near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 Gad told David this, and David went to Araunah’s threshing floor.
20 Araunah was threshing the wheat. He turned around and saw the angel. His four sons ran away to hide. 21 David walked up the hill to Araunah. Araunah saw him and left the threshing floor. He walked to David and bowed with his face to the ground in front of him.
22 David said to Araunah, “Sell me your threshing floor. I will pay you the full price. Then I can use the area to build an altar to worship the Lord. Then the terrible sicknesses will be stopped.”
23 Araunah said to David, “Take this threshing floor. You are my lord and king, so do whatever you want. Look, I will also give you cattle for the burnt offering. You can have the wooden threshing tools to burn for the fire on the altar. And I will give the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this to you.”
24 But King David answered Araunah, “No, I will pay you the full price. I will not take anything that is yours and give it to the Lord. I will not give offerings that cost me nothing.”
25 So David gave Araunah about 15 pounds[d] of gold for the place. 26 David built an altar for worshiping the Lord there. David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He prayed to the Lord. The Lord answered David by sending fire down from heaven. The fire came down on the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the Lord commanded the angel to put his sword back into its sheath.
28 David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah, so David offered sacrifices there. 29 (The Lord’s Holy Tent and the altar of burnt offerings were at the high place in the town of Gibeon. Moses had made the Holy Tent while the Israelites were in the desert. 30 David could not go to the Holy Tent to speak with God because he was afraid. He was afraid of the angel of the Lord and his sword.)
22 David said, “The Temple of the Lord God and the altar for burning offerings for the Israelites will be built here.”
David Makes Plans for the Temple
2 David gave an order for all foreigners living in Israel to be gathered together. He chose stonecutters from that group of foreigners. Their job was to cut stones ready to be used for building God’s Temple. 3 David got iron for making nails and hinges for the gate doors. He also got more bronze than could be weighed 4 and more cedar logs than could be counted. The people from the cities of Sidon and Tyre brought many cedar logs to David.
5 David said, “We should build a very great Temple for the Lord, but my son Solomon is young and does not yet have enough experience to know how to do it well. It should be so great and beautiful that it will be famous among all the nations. So I will prepare what is needed to build it.” So before David died he prepared everything needed to build a great Temple.
6 Then David called for his son Solomon and told him to build the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I wanted to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God. 8 But the Lord said to me, ‘David, you have fought many wars and you have killed many people. So you cannot build a temple for my name. 9 But you have a son who is a man of peace. I will give your son a time of peace. His enemies around him will not bother him. His name is Solomon.[e] And I will give Israel peace and quiet during the time that he is king. 10 Solomon will build a temple for my name. He will be my son, and I will be his Father. I will make his kingdom strong, and someone from his family will rule Israel forever!’”
11 David also said, “Now, son, may the Lord be with you. May you be successful and build the Temple for the Lord your God, as he said you would. 12 He will make you the king of Israel. May the Lord give you wisdom and understanding so that you can lead the people and obey the law of the Lord your God. 13 And you will have success, if you are careful to obey the rules and laws that the Lord gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid.
14 “Solomon, I have worked hard making plans for building the Lord’s Temple. I have given 3750 tons[f] of gold and about 37,500 tons[g] of silver. I have given so much bronze and iron that it cannot be weighed. And I have given wood and stone. Solomon, you can add to them. 15 You have many stonecutters and carpenters. You have men skilled in every kind of work. 16 They are skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron. You have more skilled workers than can be counted. Now begin the work. And may the Lord be with you.”
17 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. 18 David said to these leaders, “The Lord your God is with you. He has given you a time of peace. He helped me defeat the people living around us. The Lord and his people are now in control of this land. 19 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.”
A song of David for the dedication of the Temple.[a]
30 Lord, you lifted me out of my troubles.
You did not give my enemies a reason to laugh,
so I will praise you.
2 Lord my God, I prayed to you,
and you healed me.
3 Lord, you lifted me out of the grave.
I was falling into the place of death, but you saved my life.
4 Praise the Lord, you who are loyal to him!
Praise his holy name[b]!
5 His anger lasts for a little while,
but then his kindness brings life.
The night may be filled with tears,
but in the morning we can sing for joy!
6 When I was safe and secure,
I thought nothing could hurt me.
7 Yes, Lord, while you were kind to me,
I felt that nothing could defeat me.[c]
But when you turned away from me,
I was filled with fear.
8 So, Lord, I turned and prayed to you.
I asked you, Lord, to show me mercy.
9 I said, “What good is it if I die
and go down to the grave?
The dead just lie in the dirt.
They cannot praise you.
They cannot tell anyone how faithful you are.
10 Lord, hear my prayer, and be kind to me.
Lord, help me!”
11 You have changed my sorrow into dancing.
You have taken away my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy.
12 You wanted me to praise you and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever!
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International