2 Samuel 24:12

12 The Lord told Gad, "Go and tell David, 'This is what the Lord says: I offer 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 felt ashamed after he had counted the people. He said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly by what I have done. Lord, I beg you to forgive me, your servant, because I have been very foolish."

11 When David got up in the morning, the Lord spoke his word to Gad, who was a prophet and David's seer.

12 The Lord told Gad, "Go and tell David, 'This is what the Lord says: I offer you three choices. Choose one of them and I will do it to you.'"

13 So Gad went to David and said to him, "Should three years of hunger come to you and your land? Or should your enemies chase you for three months? Or should there be three days of disease in your land? Think about it. Then decide which of these things I should tell the Lord who sent me."

14 David said to Gad, "I am in great trouble. Let the Lord punish us, because the Lord is very merciful. Don't let my punishment come from human beings!"