1And again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and so He caused David to harm them by saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2So the king told Joab, commander of the army, and the officers with him, “Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, so that I may know the number of the people.” 3But Joab said to David, “May the LORD your God add to the people, as many as they are, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord, the king, see it; but why do you want to do this thing?” 4But the king prevailed over the objections of Joab and his officers of the army; and so, Joab and the officers of the army went out from the king, to number the people of Israel. 5And they crossed the Jordan, and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lies in the middle of the river toward Gad, and Jazer. 6Then they came to Gilead, the land of Tahtim-hodshi; then to Dan-jaan; then around to Sidon, 7And then to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba. 8And after nine months and twenty days, when they had gone through all the land, taking the census, they returned to Jerusalem. 9And Joab gave the total number of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who could handle a sword; and in Judah there were five hundred thousand men.

10But then David was conscience-stricken that he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; and now, I beg You, O LORD, take away the guilt of Your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” 11And when David arose in the morning, this word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, 12“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, I offer you three choices of punishments; choose one of them, and I will inflict it upon you.’” 13So Gad came and told David, and asked him: “Shall seven years of famine come upon you in your land? Or will you flee from before your enemies, while they pursue you for three months? Or would you prefer that there be three days' pestilence or plague in your land? Now think it over; and tell me what answer I should return to Him Who sent me.” 14And David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.” 15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from that morning for the appointed three days; and seventy thousand people died, from Dan to Beersheba. 16And when the Angel stretched out His hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented; and said to the Angel that destroyed the people, “It is enough; withdraw Your hand.” And the Angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. 17And David spoke to the LORD when he saw the Angel Who struck the people, and said, “Look, I have sinned, and have done wickedly; but these sheep - what have they done? Please let Your hand rather be against me, and against my family.”

18And Gad came that day to David, and told him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite.” 19And so David went up, according to the word of Gad, as the LORD commanded. 20And Araunah saw the king and his servants coming toward him; and he went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21And Araunah said, “Why has my lord, the king, come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague upon the people may be stopped.” 22And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord, the king, take and offer up what seems good to him; look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other yokes for the oxen for firewood.” 23 And Araunah also said to the king, “I will did give all these things to the king. May the LORD your God accept your sacrifice.” 24And the king said to Araunah, “No; I insist that I will buy it from you at the current price; for I will not present burnt offerings unto the LORD my God that have cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25And David built an altar there unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So, the LORD was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague upon Israel was stopped.