2 Samuel 24:11-21

11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to ¹the prophet Gad, David's ²seer, saying,

12 "Go and speak to David, 'Thus the LORD says, "I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.""'

13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall ³seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me."

14 Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD ⁴for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man."

Pestilence Sent

15 So ⁵the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people ⁶from Dan to Beersheba died.

16 ⁷When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, ⁸the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough! Now relax your hand!" And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, "Behold, ⁹it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but ¹⁰these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father's house."

David Builds an Altar

18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, "¹¹Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

19 David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded.

20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.

21 Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, ¹²that the plague may be held back from the people."

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2 Samuel 24:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, 2Sa 24:1-9; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, 2Sa 24:10-13; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, 2Sa 24:14-17; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, 2Sa 24:18-25.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. 1 Samuel 22:5; 1 Chronicles 29:29
2. 1 Samuel 9:9
3. 1 Chronicles 21:12; Ezekiel 14:21
4. Psalms 51:1; Psalms 130:4, 7
5. 1 Chronicles 21:14; 1 Chronicles 27:24
6. 2 Samuel 24:2
7. Exodus 12:23; 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:23
8. Exodus 32:14; 1 Samuel 15:11
9. 2 Samuel 24:10
10. 2 Samuel 7:8; Psalms 74:1
11. 1 Chronicles 21:18
12. Numbers 16:44-50

Footnotes 2

[a]. Lit "gave"
[b]. In 2 Chr 3:1, "Ornan"