| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Then Satan attacked Israel by inciting David to enumerate a census of Israel. | 1Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel. |
| 2David ordered Joab and the commanders of the army, "Go take a census of Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report so I can be aware of the total number." | 2So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring a report to me so I can know their number." |
| 3But Joab replied, "May the LORD increase the population of his people a hundredfold! Your majesty, all of them are your majesty's servants, aren't they? So why should your majesty demand this? Why should he bring guilt to Israel?" | 3Joab replied, "May the LORD multiply the number of His people a hundred times over! My lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?" |
| 4But the king's order overruled Joab, so Joab left, traveled throughout all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem | 4Yet the king's order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem. |
| 5to report the total population count to David. Throughout all of Israel there were 1,100,000 men trained for war. In Judah there were 470,000 men trained for war. | 5Joab gave the total troop registration to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 swordsmen and in Judah itself 470,000 swordsmen. |
| 6Levi and Benjamin were not included in the census, because what the king had commanded was unethical to Joab. | 6But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count because the king's command was detestable to him. |
| 7God considered this behavior to be evil, so he attacked Israel. | 7This command was also evil in God's sight, so He afflicted Israel. |
| 8David responded to God, "I sinned greatly by behaving this way. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly." | 8David said to God, "I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now, please take away Your servant's guilt, for I've been very foolish." |
| 9So the LORD responded through Gad, David's seer. | 9Then the LORD instructed Gad, David's seer," |
| 10"Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: "I'm holding three choices out for you: pick one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you."'" | 10Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them for yourself, and I will do it to you.'" |
| 11Gad went to David and told him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Make a choice for yourself: | 11So Gad went to David and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Take your choice: |
| 12Either three years of famine, or three months of reversals as you are swept away by your enemies while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days with the sword of the LORD, consisting of pestilence infecting the land, with the angel of the LORD wreaking destruction from border to border throughout all of Israel.' Decide right now what I am to answer to the one who sent me." | 12three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes with the sword of your enemy overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD--a plague on the land, the angel of the LORD bringing destruction to the whole territory of Israel.' Now decide what answer I should take back to the One who sent me." |
| 13So David replied to Gad, "This is a very bad choice for me to make! Let me now please fall into the hand of the LORD, because his mercy is very great, but may I never fall into human hands!" | 13David answered Gad, "I'm in anguish. Please, let me fall into the LORD's hands because His mercies are very great, but don't let me fall into human hands." |
| 14Then the LORD sent a pestilence to Israel, and 70,000 men died in Israel. | 14So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died. |
| 15God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as he was about to do so, the LORD looked and withdrew the calamity by saying to the destroying angel, "Enough! Stop what you're doing!" So the angel of the LORD remained standing near the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan the Jebusite. | 15Then God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when the angel was about to destroy the city, the LORD looked, relented concerning the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough, withdraw your hand now!" The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. |
| 16David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. | 16When David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell down with their faces to the ground. |
| 17David told God, "Wasn't I the one who ordered the census of the population? Wasn't it I who sinned and acted wickedly? Now as for these sheep, what have they done? LORD God, please let your hand be against me and my ancestral household, but don't let your people be ravaged by plague!" | 17David said to God, "Wasn't I the one who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? My LORD God, please let Your hand be against me and against my father's family, but don't let the plague be against Your people." |
| 18The angel of the LORD told Gad to tell David that David was to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan the Jebusite. | 18So the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. |
| 19So David went up, obeying Gad's directive that he had spoken in the name of the LORD. | 19David went up at Gad's command spoken in the name of the LORD. |
| 20Ornan turned around and saw the angel. While his four sons with him ran away to hide, Ornan continued to thresh wheat. | 20Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel. His four sons, who were with him, hid themselves. |
| 21As David approached Ornan, Ornan looked around and observed David, left the threshing floor, and fell to the ground before David with his face on the ground. | 21David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground. |
| 22David told Ornan, "Give me the threshing floor as a site to build an altar to the LORD on it. Give it to me at its full price, so the plague may be averted from the people." | 22Then David said to Ornan, "Give me this threshing-floor plot so that I may build an altar to the LORD on it. Give it to me for the full price, so the plague on the people may be stopped." |
| 23But Ornan replied to David, "Take it! Let your majesty the king do whatever seems like a good idea to him. Look here! I'm giving the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing machinery for the wood, and the wheat for a grain offering. I'm giving all of it." | 23Ornan said to David, "Take it! My lord the king may do whatever he wants. See, I give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering--I give it all." |
| 24But King David told Ornan, "No. I will buy them for the full price because I will not offer to the LORD what is yours or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing." | 24King David answered Ornan, "No, I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing." |
| 25So David paid Ornan 600 shekels weight worth in gold for the site, | 25So David gave Ornan 15 pounds of gold for the plot. |
| 26built an altar to the LORD there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called out to the LORD, and he answered him from heaven with fire on the altar of burnt offerings. | 26He built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. |
| 27After this, the LORD spoke to the angel, who then sheathed his sword. | 27Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. |
| 28From that time on, after David had observed that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made his sacrifices there. | 28At that time, David offered sacrifices there when he saw that the LORD answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. |
| 29Meanwhile, the tent of the LORD that Moses had crafted in the desert, along with the altar of burnt offerings, were being stored at the high place in Gibeon at that time, | 29The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at the high place in Gibeon, |
| 30but David was not going before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword carried by the angel of the LORD. | 30but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was terrified of the sword of the LORD's angel. |
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