David’s Military Census
(Exodus 30:11–16; 1 Chronicles 21:1–6)

1And the anger of YHWH added to be hot against Israel, and He moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

2And the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him,† “Go now throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan and to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

3And Joab said to the king, “And YHWH your God may add to the people, as they were and as they are a hundred times, and the eyes of my lord the king may see it. And my lord the king, why does this thing delight?”

4And the word of the king prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.

5And they passed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city which is in the midst of the valley, toward Gad and to Jazer. 6And they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi,† and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon, 7and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivite and the Canaanite, and they went out to the Negev of Judah,† to Beersheba.

8And they had gone through all the land, and they came at the end of nine months and twenty days to Jerusalem. 9And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

Judgment for David’s Sin
(1 Chronicles 21:7–13)

10And the heart of David condemned him after that he had numbered the people. And David said to YHWH, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. And, O YHWH, cause to pass, please, the iniquity of Your servant. For I have acted very foolishly.”

11And David arose in the morning, and the word of YHWH came to Gad the prophet, seer of David, saying, 12“Go and tell to David, thus says YHWH: ‘Three things I offer you. Choose for yourself one of them, that I may do it to you.’”

13And Gad came to David and told him, and he said to him, “Shall come three† years of famine to you in your land, or shall you flee three months before your enemy and he pursues you, or shall there be three days plague in your land? Now consider and see what word I should take back to Him who sent me.”

14And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall, please, into the hand of YHWH, for great are His mercies. And into the hand of man do not let me fall.”

A Plague on Israel
(1 Chronicles 21:14–17)

15And YHWH sent a plague upon Israel from the morning and until the appointed time, and died of the people from Dan and to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

16And the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, and YHWH relented from the destruction, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Now restrain your hand!” And the angel of YHWH was by the threshing floor of Araunah† the Jebusite.

17And David spoke to YHWH when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and he said, “Behold, I, the shepherd,† have sinned, and I have acted wickedly. And these sheep, what have they done? Please be Your hand against me and against the house of my father.”

David Builds an Altar
(1 Chronicles 21:18–30)

18And Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up, raise to YHWH an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19And David went up according to the word of Gad, as YHWH had commanded.

20And Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. And Araunah went out and bowed low before the king with his nose to the ground. 21And Araunah said, “Why has my lord come the king to his servant?”

And David said, “To buy from you the threshing floor to build an altar to YHWH, that the plague may be restrained from the people.”

22And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever is good in his eyes. See the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments, and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23All these Araunah has given, O king, to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May YHWH your God accept you.”

24And the king said to Araunah, “No, but I shall surely buy it from you for a price, and I will not offer to YHWH my God burnt offerings for nothing.”

And David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.† 25And David built there an altar to YHWH, and he offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings.

And YHWH heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

Footnotes:

2 LXX to Joab and the army commanders with him
6 Hebrew; some LXX manuscripts to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites
7 Or to the south of Judah
13 LXX (see also 1 Chronicles 21:12); Hebrew seven
16 Araunah is a variant of Ornan; see 1 Chronicles 21:15 and 2 Chronicles 3:1.
17 DSS and LXX; MT does not include the shepherd.
24 50 shekels is approximately 1.26 pounds or 569.8 grams of silver.