2 Samuel 24

The LORD became angry with Israel again. He stirred David up against them, saying, "Go and count the people of Israel and Judah."

1And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

Note"Again" ties this chapter back to an earlier disaster in Israel, though the book does not say which. The Hebrew of the second half is deliberately compact and the subject is disputed: it can be read as "he incited David" (God) or "one incited David." The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:1 says instead that Satan, or an adversary, incited David. Ancient readers of both texts had the two versions side by side.

2The king said to Joab, the commander of his army, who was there with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan in the far north to Beersheba in the far south, and count the fighting men, so I can know how many there are."

2For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

NoteA census in the ancient Near East was not a neutral head-count. It registered men liable for military service and taxation, so it was an assertion of royal power over the tribes and a step toward a standing conscript army. "From Dan to Beersheba" was a fixed proverbial phrase meaning the entire country, end to end, the way we might say "coast to coast."

3Joab answered the king, "May the LORD your God give you a hundred times as many people as you have now, however many that is, and may you live to see it. But why does my lord the king want to do this?"

3And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

4Even so, the king's order overruled Joab and the army commanders. So Joab and the commanders left the king and went out to count the fighting men of Israel.

4Notwithstanding 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.

5They crossed the Jordan River and camped near Aroer, south of the town that sits in the middle of the valley. Then they went on toward Gad and Jazer.

5And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:

NoteAroer sat on the northern rim of the Arnon gorge, east of the Dead Sea. "The town in the middle of the valley" refers to a settlement on the floor of that ravine. Gad and Jazer were territories east of the Jordan; the census route runs up the eastern side of the country first.

6Next they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi. Then they came to Dan-jaan and went around toward Sidon.

6Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,

Note"Tahtim-hodshi" is not a known place, and the Hebrew here is generally agreed to be damaged. Some ancient copies read "to the land of the Hittites, toward Kadesh." "Dan-jaan" is likewise obscure and probably means Dan, the northernmost town.

7They went to the fortress city of Tyre and to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Finally they went out to the dry southern country of Judah, all the way to Beersheba.

7And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.

NoteTyre and Sidon were Phoenician port cities on the coast north of Israel, outside Israelite territory; the surveyors skirt the border. The Hivites and Canaanites were peoples living in the land before Israel, still present in pockets. The "dry southern country" translates the Negev, the arid region south of Judah.

8After they had gone through the whole land, they came back to Jerusalem. The whole trip took nine months and twenty days.

8So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9Joab handed the king the total count of the people. In Israel there were 800,000 strong soldiers who could handle a sword, and in Judah there were 500,000 men.

9And Joab gave up the sum of the number 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.

Note"Men who could handle a sword" is the standard formula for men of fighting age and fitness, not the whole population. The figures are very large by ancient standards and the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:5 gives different numbers, 1,100,000 for Israel and 470,000 for Judah.

10After David had counted the people, his conscience troubled him. David said to the LORD, "I have sinned badly in what I have done. Now, LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant, because I have acted very foolishly."

10And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

11When David got up the next morning, a message from the LORD had already come to the prophet Gad, who was David's seer. The LORD said,

11For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,

Note"Seer" was an older word for a prophet, literally one who sees. The narrator uses both terms of Gad in the same sentence, apparently to explain the older word by the newer one. A seer attached to the king served as a kind of resident royal advisor.

12"Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: I am putting three things in front of you. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you."

12Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

13So Gad went to David and told him. He said, "Will you have seven years of famine in your land? Or three months of running from your enemies while they chase you? Or three days of deadly disease in your land? Think it over now, and decide what answer I should take back to the one who sent me."

13So 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 thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

NoteThe Hebrew text says seven years of famine; the ancient Greek translation and 1 Chronicles 21:12 both say three, which lines up with the three months and three days that follow. Translators split over which to print, and the difference is preserved here.

14David said to Gad, "I am in a terrible spot. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, because his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands."

14And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

Note"Falling into someone's hand" is a standard idiom for coming under their power. David's point is a choice between punishment administered directly by God and punishment administered through human enemies, the second of the three options.

15So the LORD sent a deadly disease on Israel, from that morning until the set time. Seventy thousand people died, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.

15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

Note"The set time" is ambiguous in the Hebrew. It may mean the fixed end of the three days, or the time of the daily evening sacrifice. The ancient Greek version reads "until the hour of the midday meal."

16When the angel reached out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD changed his mind about the disaster. He said to the angel who was destroying the people, "That is enough. Hold back your hand now." At that moment the angel of the LORD was beside the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

16And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

NoteThe King James "the LORD repented him of the evil" uses two words that have shifted. "Repent" here renders a Hebrew verb meaning to relent, to be moved to pity, or to change course, not to feel guilt over sin; and "evil" means harm or calamity, not wickedness. A threshing floor was a flat, hard, open area, often bare rock on a windy rise outside town, where grain was beaten and tossed to separate it from the chaff. The Jebusites were the people who held Jerusalem before David captured it, and Araunah is one of them still living there.

17When David saw the angel striking the people down, he spoke to the LORD. He said, "Look, I am the one who sinned, and I am the one who did wrong. But these people are like sheep. What have they done? Please let your hand fall on me and on my father's family."

17And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.

NoteCalling the people "sheep" draws on the standard ancient title of a king as shepherd of his people. The Hebrew of David's opening words is difficult, and some copies can be read "I, the shepherd, have sinned," which makes the image explicit. "My father's house" means his whole family line, not just his household.

18That same day Gad came to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

18And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

19So David went up, doing what Gad had told him, just as the LORD had commanded.

19And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.

20Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. He went out and bowed low before the king, with his face to the ground.

20And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

21Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David answered, "To buy your threshing floor, so I can build an altar to the LORD and the plague on the people will stop."

21And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

NoteBuying the site rather than simply seizing it matters legally: David wants clear title to the ground before dedicating it, and the transaction is recorded in the same style as other land purchases in the Hebrew Bible.

22Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever seems good to him and offer it. Look, here are oxen for a burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the ox yokes for firewood."

22And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

NoteA threshing sledge was a heavy wooden board studded underneath with stone or iron teeth, dragged over spread grain by oxen to break the husks. Wood was scarce and expensive in the region, so offering the sledges and yokes as fuel for the fire was a substantial gift, not scrap.

23Araunah gave all of this to the king, like a king giving a gift. And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you."

23All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

NoteThe King James "as a king" translates a phrase that puzzled ancient copyists too. It may mean that Araunah gave with royal generosity, or that Araunah was himself a king, and some read the word as a title of the former Jebusite ruler of Jerusalem rather than a comparison.

24But the king said to Araunah, "No. I will certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver.

24And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

NoteSilver was weighed, not coined, at this period. A shekel was a weight of roughly eleven and a half grams, so fifty shekels came to a little over a pound of silver, a real but not enormous sum. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:25 gives six hundred shekels of gold for the whole site rather than fifty of silver for the floor and oxen.

25There David built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers for the land, and the plague on Israel stopped.

25And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

NoteA burnt offering was consumed entirely by fire on the altar, with nothing kept back. A peace offering, also called a fellowship offering, was partly burned and partly eaten in a shared meal by the worshipers, and it customarily closed an occasion rather than opening one. "The LORD was intreated" in the King James means that God let himself be appealed to and responded, not that he was pleaded with in vain.