2 Samuel 24:12

12 "Go and say to David, 'This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three [choices]. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.' "

2 Samuel 24:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 24:12

Go, and say unto David
Not my servant David, as Nathan was bid to say to him when it was in his heart to build an house for him, ( 2 Samuel 7:5 ) ; but now he had sinned and displeased the Lord, and therefore it is only plain David:

thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three [things];
or lay them before thee to consider of which thou wouldest have done; the Targum is,

``one of three things I cast upon thee,''

as a burden to bear; one of the three I will certainly inflict upon thee by way of chastisement:

choose thee one of them, that I may [do it] unto thee;
here is mercy mixed with judgment; the Lord is angry, yet shows great condescension and goodness; a sovereign Being, who could have imposed what punishment he pleased, and even all the three after mentioned, yet resolves but on one, and leaves that to the option of David.

2 Samuel 24:12 In-Context

10 David's conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I've done. Now, Lord, because I've been very foolish, please take away Your servant's guilt."

11 When David got up in the morning, a revelation from the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, David's seer:

12 "Go and say to David, 'This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three [choices]. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.' "

13 So Gad went to David, told him [the choices], and asked him, "Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, think it over and decide what answer I should take back to the One who sent me."

14 David answered Gad, "I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord's hands because His mercies are great, but don't let me fall into human hands."