| International Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1Then Satan attacked Israel by inciting David to enumerate a census of Israel. | 1Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census 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 the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are." |
| 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?" | 3But Joab replied, "May the LORD multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? 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 | 4The king's word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back 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 reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah. |
| 6Levi and Benjamin were not included in the census, because what the king had commanded was unethical to Joab. | 6But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king's command was repulsive to him. |
| 7God considered this behavior to be evil, so he attacked Israel. | 7This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished 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." | 8Then David said to God, "I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." |
| 9So the LORD responded through Gad, David's seer. | 9The LORD said to 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."'" | 10"Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against 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, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD--days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.' Now then, decide how I should answer 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 said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not 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 seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. |
| 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. | 15And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah 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. | 16David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. |
| 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, "Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? LORD my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on 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. | 18Then 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 Araunah the Jebusite. |
| 19So David went up, obeying Gad's directive that he had spoken in the name of the LORD. | 19So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had 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. | 20While Araunah was threshing wheat, 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. | 21Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before 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." | 22David said to him, "Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price." |
| 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." | 23Araunah said to David, "Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases 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 all this." |
| 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." | 24But King David replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing." |
| 25So David paid Ornan 600 shekels weight worth in gold for the site, | 25So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels of gold for the site. |
| 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. | 26David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and the LORD 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, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. |
| 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 had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at 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 afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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