Parallel Bible results for "2 samuel 24"

2 Samuel 24

Common English Bible CEB

1 The LORD burned with anger against Israel again, and he incited David against them: Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.

2 So the king said to Joab and the military commanders who were with him, "Go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people so I know how many people there are."

3 Joab said to the king, "May the LORD your God increase the number of people a hundred times while the eyes of my master the king can still see it! But why does my master the king want to do this?"

4 But the king's word overruled Joab and the military commanders. So Joab and the commanders left the king's presence to take a census of the Israelites.

5 They crossed the Jordan River and began from Aroer and from the town that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, then on to Jazer.

6 They continued to Gilead and on to Kadesh in Hittite territory. They came to Dan and went around to Sidon.

7 They went to the fortress of Tyre and to all the towns of the Hivites and the Canaanites. They went out to Beer-sheba in the arid southern plain of Judah.

8 At the end of nine months and twenty days, after going through the entire country, they came back to Jerusalem.

9 Joab reported to the king the number of the people who had been counted: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand strong men who could handle a sword; in Judah the total was five hundred thousand men.

10 But after this David felt terrible that he had counted the people. David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, LORD, please take away the guilt of your servant because I have done something very foolish."

11 When David got up the next morning, the LORD's word came to the prophet Gad, David's seer:

12 Go and tell David, This is what the LORD says: I'm offering you three punishments. Choose one of them, and that is what I will do to you.

13 So Gad went to David and said to him, "Will three years of famine come on your land? Or will you run from your enemies for three months while they chase you? Or will there be three days of plague in your land? Decide now what answer I should take back to the one who sent me."

14 "I'm in deep trouble," David said to Gad. "Let's fall into the LORD's hands because his mercy is great, but don't let me fall into human hands."

15 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that very morning until the allotted time. Seventy thousand people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba.

16 But when the divine messenger stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD regretted doing this disaster and said to the messenger who was destroying the people, "That's enough! Withdraw your hand." At that time the LORD's messenger was by the threshing floor of Araunah from Jebus.

17 When David saw the messenger who was striking down the people, he said, "I'm the one who sinned! I'm the one who has done wrong. But these sheep—what have they done wrong? Turn your hand against me and my household."

18 That same day Gad came to David and told him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah from Jebus."

19 So David went up, following Gad's instructions, just as the LORD had commanded.

20 Araunah looked up and saw the king and his servants approaching him. Araunah rushed out and bowed low before the king, his nose to the ground.

21 Araunah said, "Why has my master and king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy this threshing floor from you to build an altar to the LORD, so the plague among the people may come to an end."

22 Then Araunah said to David, "Take it for yourself, and may my master the king do what he thinks is best. Here are oxen for the entirely burned offering, and here are threshing boards and oxen yokes for wood.

23 All this, Your Majesty, Araunah gives to the king." Then he added, "May the LORD your God respond favorably to you!"

24 "No," the king said to Araunah. "I will buy them from you at a fair price. I won't offer up to the LORD my God entirely burned offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 David built an altar there for the LORD and offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices. The LORD responded to the prayers for the land, and the plague against Israel came to an end.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Once again God's anger blazed out against Israel. He tested David by telling him, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."

2 So David gave orders to Joab and the army officers under him, "Canvass all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and get a count of the population. I want to know the number."

3 But Joab resisted the king: "May your God multiply people by the hundreds right before the eyes of my master the king, but why on earth would you do a thing like this?"

4 Nevertheless, the king insisted, and so Joab and the army officers left the king to take a census of Israel.

5 They crossed the Jordan and began with Aroer and the town in the canyon of the Gadites near Jazer,

6 proceeded through Gilead, passed Hermon, then on to Dan, but detoured Sidon.

7 They covered Fort Tyre and all the Hivite and Canaanite cities, and finally reached the Negev of Judah at Beersheba.

8 They canvassed the whole country and after nine months and twenty days arrived back in Jerusalem.

9 Joab gave the results of the census to the king: 800,000 able-bodied fighting men in Israel; in Judah 500,000.

10 But when it was all done, David was overwhelmed with guilt because he had counted the people, replacing trust with statistics. And David prayed to God, "I have sinned badly in what I have just done. But now God forgive my guilt - I've been really stupid."

11 When David got up the next morning, the word of God had already come to Gad the prophet, David's spiritual advisor,

12 "Go and give David this message: 'God has spoken thus: There are three things I can do to you; choose one out of the three and I'll see that it's done.'"

13 Gad came to deliver the message: "Do you want three years of famine in the land, or three months of running from your enemies while they chase you down, or three days of an epidemic on the country? Think it over and make up your mind. What shall I tell the one who sent me?"

14 David told Gad, "They're all terrible! But I'd rather be punished by God, whose mercy is great, than fall into human hands."

15 So God let loose an epidemic from morning until suppertime. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand people died.

16 But when the angel reached out over Jerusalem to destroy it, God felt the pain of the terror and told the angel who was spreading death among the people, "Enough's enough! Pull back!" The angel of God had just reached the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel hovering between earth and sky, sword drawn and about to strike Jerusalem. David and the elders bowed in prayer and covered themselves with rough burlap.

17 When David saw the angel about to destroy the people, he prayed, "Please! I'm the one who sinned; I, the shepherd, did the wrong. But these sheep, what did they do wrong? Punish me and my family, not them."

18 That same day Gad came to David and said, "Go and build an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

19 David did what Gad told him, what God commanded.

20 Araunah looked up and saw David and his men coming his way; he met them, bowing deeply, honoring the king

21 and saying, "Why has my master the king come to see me?" "To buy your threshing floor," said David, "so I can build an altar to God here and put an end to this disaster."

22 "Oh," said Araunah, "let my master the king take and sacrifice whatever he wants. Look, here's an ox for the burnt offering and threshing paddles and ox-yokes for fuel

23 - Araunah gives it all to the king! And may God, your God, act in your favor."

24 But the king said to Araunah, "No. I've got to buy it from you for a good price; I'm not going to offer God, my God, sacrifices that are no sacrifice."

25 He built an altar to God there and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. God was moved by the prayers and that was the end of the disaster.