2 Samuel 24:13-17

13So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three1 years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

14David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

15So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.2

16But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah3 the Jebusite.

17When David saw the angel striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “Surely I, the shepherd,4 have sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house.”