1 Chronicles 21:1-7

1Then Satan caused David to bring trouble to Israel. He caused David to count all the men in Israel.

2So David said to Joab and to the officers in his army, ‘Go and count the men everywhere in Israel, from Beersheba to Dan. Then come and give me a report. I want to know how many men there are.’

3But Joab replied, ‘I pray that the Lord will make your army grow 100 times bigger! All your men are your faithful servants, my lord the king. But why do you want to do this? You will cause all Israel to become guilty.’

4But Joab had to obey the king's command. So Joab left. He went through all Israel and then he returned to Jerusalem.

5Joab reported to David about the number of soldiers who could fight. There were 1,100,000 men in all Israel who could fight with swords. There were 470,000 men in Judah who could fight with swords.

6But the king's command had seemed disgusting to Joab. So he did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.

7God was also angry because David had done this thing. So he decided to punish Israel.