2 Samuel 24
David Numbers Israel
and Judah |
1 Chr. 21.1-27 |
1 |
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David
against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
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2 |
For the king said to Jo'ab the captain of
the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes
of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people,
that I may know the number of the people.
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3 |
And Jo'ab said unto the king, Now the
LORD thy God add unto the people, how many
soever they be, a hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king
may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this
thing?
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4 |
Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed
against Jo'ab, and against the captains of the host. And Jo'ab and
the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to
number the people of Israel.
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5 |
And they passed over Jordan, and pitched
in Aro'er, on the right side of the city that lieth in the
midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
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6 |
then they came to Gil'e-ad, and to the
land of Tahtim-hod'shi; and they came to Dan-ja'an, and about to
Zidon,
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7 |
and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and
to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they
went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba.
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8 |
So when they had gone through all the
land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty
days.
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9 |
And Jo'ab gave up the sum of the number
of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred
thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
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10 |
And David's heart smote him after that
he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and
now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the
iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
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11 |
For when David was up in the morning, the
word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad,
David's seer, saying,
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12 |
Go and say unto David, Thus saith the
LORD, I offer thee three things; choose
thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
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13 |
So Gad came to David, and told him, and
said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy
land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while
they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy
land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that
sent me.
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14 |
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great
strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not
fall into the hand of man.
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15 |
So the LORD sent a
pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed:
and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy
thousand men.
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16 |
And when the angel stretched out his hand
upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented
him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It
is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Arau'nah the
Jeb'usite.
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17 |
And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and
said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep,
what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and
against my father's house.
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18 |
And Gad came that day to David, and
said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Arau'nah the
Jeb'usite.
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19 |
And David, according to the saying of
Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
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20 |
And Arau'nah looked, and saw the king and
his servants coming on toward him: and Arau'nah went out, and bowed
himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
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21 |
And Arau'nah said, Wherefore is my lord
the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the
threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the
people.
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22 |
And Arau'nah said unto David, Let my lord
the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him:
behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing
instruments and other instruments of the oxen for
wood.
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23 |
All these things did Arau'nah, as a king, give unto the king. And Arau'nah said unto the
king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
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24 |
And the king said unto Arau'nah, Nay; but
I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer
burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that
which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and
the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
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25 |
And David built there an altar unto the
LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the
land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
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