2 Samuel 24:4-14

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 ¹Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward ²Jazer.

6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to ³Sidon,

7 and came to the ⁴fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ⁵Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to ⁶Beersheba.

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 ⁷the number of the registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel ⁸eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 Now ⁹David's heart troubled him after * he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, "¹⁰I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for ¹¹I have acted very foolishly."

11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to ¹²the prophet Gad, David's ¹³seer, 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 ¹⁴seven 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 ¹⁵for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man."

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2 Samuel 24:4-14 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 2:36; Joshua 13:9, 16
2. Numbers 21:32; Numbers 32:35
3. Joshua 19:28; Judges 1:31
4. Joshua 19:29
5. Joshua 11:3; Judges 3:3
6. Genesis 21:22-33
7. Numbers 1:44-46
8. 1 Chronicles 21:5
9. 1 Samuel 24:5
10. 2 Samuel 12:13
11. 1 Samuel 13:13; 2 Chronicles 16:9
12. 1 Samuel 22:5; 1 Chronicles 29:29
13. 1 Samuel 9:9
14. 1 Chronicles 21:12; Ezekiel 14:21
15. Psalms 51:1; Psalms 130:4, 7

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 24:4-14

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2 Samuel 24:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

Cross References 15

Footnotes 5