2 Samuel 24

David's Census

1 z a Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, b "Go, number Israel and Judah." 2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, 1 who was with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, c from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people." 3 But Joab said to the king, d "May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" 4 But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and began from e Aroer, 2 and from the city that is in the middle of the f valley, toward Gad and on to g Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; 3 and they came to Dan, and from Dan 4 they went around to h Sidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the i Hivites and i Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men j who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin

10 But k David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, l "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done m very foolishly." 11 And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to n the prophet Gad, David's o seer, saying, 12 "Go and say to David, 'Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer 5 you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.'" 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall p three 6 years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me." 14 Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, q for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man."

15 r So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from s Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when t the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem u to destroy it, v the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel u who was working destruction among the people, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And t the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of w Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house."

David Builds an Altar

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, "Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of x Araunah the Jebusite." 19 So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague y may be averted from the people." 22 Then Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the z threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the Lord your God a accept you." 24 But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it from you for a price. 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 fifty shekels 7 of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. b So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

  1. Cross References
    2 Samuel 24:1 - 25
    Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah.
    1 Chronicles 21:1 - 28
    Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
  2. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 21:1
    Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
  3. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 27:23 - 24
    David did not count those below twenty years of age, for the Lord had promised to make Israel as many as the stars of heaven.
  4. Cross References
    2 Samuel 24:15
    So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.
    2 Samuel 3:10
    To transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.
  5. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 1:11
    May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you!
  6. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 2:36
    From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord our God gave all into our hands.
    Joshua 13:9
    From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon.
    Joshua 13:16
    So their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland by Medeba.
  7. Cross References
    Numbers 13:23
    And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
  8. Cross References
    Numbers 21:32
    And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
    Numbers 32:1
    Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock.
    Numbers 32:3
    Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon.
  9. Cross References
    Joshua 19:28
    Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, as far as Sidon the Great.
    Judges 18:28
    And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it.
  10. Cross References
    Joshua 11:3
    To the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
    Judges 3:3
    These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
  11. Cross References
    Joshua 11:3
    To the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
    Judges 3:3
    These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
  12. Cross References
    Judges 8:10
    Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.
  13. Cross References
    1 Samuel 24:5
    And afterward David's heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe.
  14. Cross References
    2 Samuel 12:13
    David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
  15. Cross References
    1 Samuel 13:13
    And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
  16. Cross References
    1 Samuel 22:5
    Then the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah." So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
  17. Cross References
    1 Samuel 9:9
    (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer," for today's "prophet" was formerly called a seer.)
  18. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 21:12
    Either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.
  19. Cross References
    Psalms 119:156
    Great is your mercy, O Lord ; give me life according to your rules.
  20. Cross References
    1 Chronicles 27:24
    Joab the son of Zeruiah began to count, but did not finish. Yet wrath came upon Israel for this, and the number was not entered in the chronicles of King David.
  21. Cross References
    2 Samuel 24:2
    So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.
  22. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:35
    And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
    2 Chronicles 32:21
    And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword.
    Isaiah 37:36
    And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
    Acts 12:23
    Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
  23. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:35
    And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
    2 Chronicles 32:21
    And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword.
    Isaiah 37:36
    And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
    Acts 12:23
    Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
  24. Cross References
    Exodus 12:13
    The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
    Exodus 12:23
    For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
  25. Cross References
    Exodus 12:13
    The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
    Exodus 12:23
    For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
  26. Cross References
    Genesis 6:6
    And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
    1 Samuel 15:11
    I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.
    Joel 2:13 - 14
    And rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
    Jonah 3:10
    When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
  27. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 3:1
    Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
  28. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 3:1
    Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
  29. Cross References
    Numbers 16:48
    And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
    Numbers 16:50
    And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.
  30. Cross References
    1 Kings 19:21
    And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.
  31. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 33:11
    Bless, O Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again.
    Psalms 20:3
    May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
  32. Cross References
    2 Samuel 21:14
    And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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