New American Standard Bible 2020

2 Samuel 24:1-17

1 1Now 2the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again, and He incited David against them to say, “3Go, count Israel and Judah.” 2So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, 4from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people.” 3But Joab said to the king, “5May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4Nevertheless, the king’s order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel. 5They crossed the Jordan and camped in 6Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad and toward 7Jazer. 6Then they came to Gilead and to 8the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to 9Sidon, 7then they came to the 10fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the 11Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to 12Beersheba. 8So when they had roamed about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9And Joab gave 13the number of the census of the people to the king: in Israel there were 14eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10Now 15David’s heart 16troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the Lord, “17I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, Lord, please 18overlook the guilt of Your servant, for 19I have acted very foolishly.” 11When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to 20Gad the prophet, David’s 21seer, saying, 12“Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”’” 13So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall 22seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” 14Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord, 23for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

15So 24the Lord 25sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people 26from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 27When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, 28the Lord relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now drop your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, 29it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but 30these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house!”

Read all of 2 Samuel 24

Notes

1. 2 Samuel 24:1 1 Chr 21:1 ↩
2. 2 Samuel 24:1 2 Sam 21:1, 2 ↩
3. 2 Samuel 24:1 1 Chr 27:23, 24 ↩
4. 2 Samuel 24:2 Judg 20:1; 2 Sam 3:10 ↩
5. 2 Samuel 24:3 Deut 1:11 ↩
6. 2 Samuel 24:5 Deut 2:36; Josh 13:9, 16 ↩
7. 2 Samuel 24:5 Num 21:32; 32:35 ↩
8. 2 Samuel 24:6 Another reading is Kadesh in the land of the Hittite ↩
9. 2 Samuel 24:6 Josh 19:28; Judg 1:31 ↩
10. 2 Samuel 24:7 Josh 19:29 ↩
11. 2 Samuel 24:7 Josh 11:3; Judg 3:3 ↩
12. 2 Samuel 24:7 Gen 21:22-33 ↩
13. 2 Samuel 24:9 Num 1:44-46 ↩
14. 2 Samuel 24:9 1 Chr 21:5 ↩
15. 2 Samuel 24:10 1 Sam 24:5 ↩
16. 2 Samuel 24:10 Lit struck ↩
17. 2 Samuel 24:10 2 Sam 12:13 ↩
18. 2 Samuel 24:10 Lit allow to pass ↩
19. 2 Samuel 24:10 1 Sam 13:13; 2 Chr 16:9 ↩
20. 2 Samuel 24:11 1 Sam 22:5; 1 Chr 29:29 ↩
21. 2 Samuel 24:11 1 Sam 9:9 ↩
22. 2 Samuel 24:13 1 Chr 21:12; Ezek 14:21 ↩
23. 2 Samuel 24:14 Ps 51:1; 130:4, 7 ↩
24. 2 Samuel 24:15 1 Chr 21:14; 27:24 ↩
25. 2 Samuel 24:15 Lit gave ↩
26. 2 Samuel 24:15 2 Sam 24:2 ↩
27. 2 Samuel 24:16 Ex 12:23; 2 Kin 19:35; Acts 12:23 ↩
28. 2 Samuel 24:16 Ex 32:14; 1 Sam 15:11 ↩
29. 2 Samuel 24:17 2 Sam 24:10 ↩
30. 2 Samuel 24:17 2 Sam 7:8; Ps 74:1 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on 2 Samuel 24