2 Samuel 24:3-13

3 But Joab said to the king, "¹Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"

4 Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel.

5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in ²Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward ³Jazer.

6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ⁴Sidon,

7 and came to the ⁵fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ⁶Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ⁷Beersheba.

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

9 And Joab gave ⁸the number of the registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ⁹eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 Now ¹⁰David's heart troubled him after * he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, "¹¹I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for ¹²I have acted very foolishly."

11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to ¹³the prophet Gad, David's ¹⁴seer, 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 ¹⁵seven 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."

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2 Samuel 24:3-13 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 15

1. Deuteronomy 1:11
2. Deuteronomy 2:36; Joshua 13:9, 16
3. Numbers 21:32; Numbers 32:35
4. Joshua 19:28; Judges 1:31
5. Joshua 19:29
6. Joshua 11:3; Judges 3:3
7. Genesis 21:22-33
8. Numbers 1:44-46
9. 1 Chronicles 21:5
10. 1 Samuel 24:5
11. 2 Samuel 12:13
12. 1 Samuel 13:13; 2 Chronicles 16:9
13. 1 Samuel 22:5; 1 Chronicles 29:29
14. 1 Samuel 9:9
15. 1 Chronicles 21:12; Ezekiel 14:21

Footnotes 5

[a]. Lit "muster"
[b]. Or "Kadesh in the land of the Hittite"
[c]. Lit "muster"
[d]. Lit "smote"
[e]. Lit "cause to pass away"

2 Samuel 24:3-13

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2 Samuel 24:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

Cross References 15

Footnotes 5