David’s Military Census (Exodus 30:11–16; 2 Samuel 24:1–9)
1 UDB Satan decided to cause the Israelite people to have trouble. So he incited David to find out how many men in Israel were able to be in the army. BSB BSB: Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
2 UDB So David commanded Joab and the other army commanders, "Count all the men in Israel who are able to be in the army. Start at Beersheba in the south and go all the way to Dan in the north. Then come back and report to me so that I may know how many men there are." BSB BSB: So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”
3 UDB But Joab replied, "Your Majesty, I hope that Yahweh will make our army a hundred times larger than it is now. But we all serve you. So you should not commit this sin and make Israel suffer for it." BSB BSB: But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
4 UDB But David would not change his mind. So Joab and his soldiers went everywhere in Israel and in Judah and counted the people. Then they returned to Jerusalem, BSB BSB: Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem.
5 UDB and they reported to David that there were 1,100,000 men in all Israel and 470,000 in Judah who could be in the army. BSB BSB: And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.
6 UDB However, Joab did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he was disgusted with what the king had commanded. BSB BSB: But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.
Judgment for David’s Sin (2 Samuel 24:10–14)
7 UDB David's command to count the people caused God to become angry, so he told David that he had decided to punish the people of Israel. BSB BSB: This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.
8 UDB Then David prayed to God. He said to him, "What I did was very foolish. I have sinned greatly by what I have done. So now I plead with you, please forgive me." BSB BSB: Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 UDB Then Yahweh said to Gad, David's prophet, BSB BSB: And the LORD instructed Gad, David’s seer,
10 UDB "Go and tell this to David: 'I am allowing you to choose one of three things to punish you. I will do whichever one you choose.'" BSB BSB: “Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’”
11 UDB So Gad went to David and said to him, "This is what Yahweh says: 'You can choose one of these punishments: BSB BSB: So Gad went and said to David, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You must choose
12 UDB three years of famine in Israel, three months during which your armies will run away from their enemies who will attack them with swords, or three days during which I will send my angel to cause many people in the country to die because of a plague.' So you must decide what I will say to answer Yahweh, the one who sent me." BSB BSB: between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”
13 UDB David replied to Gad, "I am very distressed. But allow Yahweh to punish me, because he is very merciful. Do not allow humans to punish me, because they will not be merciful." BSB BSB: David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”
A Plague on Israel (2 Samuel 24:15–17)
14 UDB So Yahweh sent a plague on the people of Israel, and seventy thousand of them died because of it. BSB BSB: So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.
15 UDB And God sent an angel to destroy the people in Jerusalem by the plague. But when the angel was standing at the ground where Ornan, from the Jebusite people, threshed grain, Yahweh saw all the suffering that the people had endured, and he was grieved. So he said to the angel, "Stop what you are doing! That is enough!" BSB BSB: Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 UDB David looked up and saw the angel whom Yahweh had sent, standing between the sky and the ground. The angel had a sword in his hand that was pointed toward Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of the city, who were wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, prostrated themselves on the ground. BSB BSB: When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
17 UDB David said to God, "I am the one who ordered the men who could be in the army to be counted. I am the one who has sinned and done what is very wrong, but these people are as innocent as sheep. They have certainly not done anything that is wrong. So Yahweh my God, punish me and my family, but do not allow this plague to continue to cause your people to become sick and die." BSB BSB: And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.”
David Builds an Altar (2 Samuel 24:18–25)
18 UDB Then the angel who was sent by Yahweh told Gad to go up to the place where Ornan threshed grain and tell David to build an altar to worship Yahweh there. BSB BSB: Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 UDB So after Gad told David, he obeyed the message that Yahweh had given to Gad, and he went up there. BSB BSB: So David went up at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.
20 UDB While Ornan was threshing some wheat, he turned and saw the angel. His four sons who were with him also saw the angel, and they hid themselves. BSB BSB: Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.
21 UDB Then David approached. When Ornan saw him, he left the place where he was threshing grain and prostrated himself, with his face touching the ground. BSB BSB: David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David.
22 UDB David said to him, "Please sell me this place for threshing so that I can build an altar here to worship Yahweh in order that he will stop this plague. I will pay the full price." BSB BSB: Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”
23 UDB Ornan replied, "Take it! Your Majesty, do whatever you want to. I will give you the oxen that thresh the grain for an offering to be completely burned on the altar. And I will give you the threshing boards to use as wood on the altar, and I will give you flour for a flour offering. I will give all those things to you." BSB BSB: Ornan said to David, “Take it! May my lord the king do whatever seems good to him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I will give it all.”
24 UDB But the king said to Ornan, "No, I will not take these things as a gift. I will pay you the full price for them. I will not take what belongs to you and offer sacrifices that have cost me nothing and offer them to Yahweh to be completely burned on the altar." BSB BSB: “No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
25 UDB So David paid to Ornan six and one-half kilograms of gold for the whole area. BSB BSB: So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site.
26 UDB David built an altar to worship Yahweh there, and he offered sacrifices to be completely burned on the altar and sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh. David prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh answered by sending a fire from heaven to burn up the offerings on the altar. BSB BSB: And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
27 UDB Then Yahweh spoke to the angel and told him to put his sword back into its sheath. So the angel did that. BSB BSB: Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath.
28 UDB And when David saw that Yahweh had answered him there at the place where Ornan threshed grain and had ended the plague, he offered sacrifices there. BSB BSB: At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there.
29 UDB Yahweh's sacred tent, which Moses had commanded to be set up in the wilderness, and the altar for burning sacrifices completely were at that time on a hill at the city of Gibeon. BSB BSB: For the tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were presently at the high place in Gibeon,
30 UDB But David did not want to go there to request God to tell him what he wanted David to do, because he was afraid that the angel sent from Yahweh might strike him with his sword; he realized that this was the place that Yahweh now wanted sacrifices to be made. BSB BSB: but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
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