Book 09 : NEVIIM - II SAMUEL - Chapter 024
24:001
And again the anger of HaShem was kindled against Israel,
and He moved David against them, saying: 'Go, number Israel and Judah.
24:002
And the king said to Joab the captain of the host that was
with him: 'Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to
Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people.
24:003
And Joab said unto the king: 'Now HaShem thy G-d add unto
the people, how many soever they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my
lord the king see it; but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?
24:004
Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and
against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out
from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel
24:005
And they passed over the Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on
the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and unto
Jazer
24:006
then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi;
and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Zidon
24:007
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,
at Beer-sheba
24:008
So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they
came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days
24:009
And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering 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
24:010
And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the
people. And David said unto HaShem: 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done;
but now, O HaShem, put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I
have done very foolishly.
24:011
And when David rose up in the morning, the word of HaShem
came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying
24:012
'Go and speak unto David: Thus saith HaShem: I lay upon
thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
24:013
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 thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days'
pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return
to Him that sent Me.
24:014
And David said unto Gad: 'I am in a great strait; let us
fall now into the hand of HaShem; for His mercies are great; and let me not fall
into the hand of man.
24:015
So HaShem 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
24:016
And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem
to destroy it, HaShem repented Him of the evil, and said to the angel that
destroyed the people: 'It is enough; now stay thy hand.' And the angel of HaShem
was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite
24:017
And David spoke unto HaShem when he saw the angel that
smote the people, and said: 'Lo, I have sinned, and I have done iniquitously;
but these sheep, what have they done? let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be against me,
and against my father's house.
24:018
And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him: 'Go up,
rear an altar unto HaShem in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
24:019
And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as
HaShem commanded
24:020
And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his
servants coming on toward him; and Araunah went out, and bowed down before the
king with his face to the ground
24:021
And Araunah said: 'Wherefore is my lord the king come to
his servant?' And David said: 'To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an
altar unto HaShem, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
24:022
And Araunah said unto David: 'Let my lord the king take
and offer up what seemeth good unto him; behold the oxen for the burnt-offering,
and the threshing-instruments and the furniture of the oxen for the wood.
24:023
All this did Araunah the king give unto the king. And
Araunah said unto the king: 'The HaShem thy G-d accept thee.
24:024
And the king said unto Araunah: 'Nay; but I will verily
buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto HaShem my
G-d which cost me nothing.' So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for
fifty shekels of silver
24:025
And David built there an altar unto HaShem, and offered
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So HaShem was entreated for the land, and
the plague was stayed from Israel
Book 09 : NEVIIM - II SAMUEL - Chapter 024
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