2 Samuel 24:1-9

David's Census

1 Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ¹"Go, number Israel and Judah."

2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,^[a] who was with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, ²from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people."

3 But Joab said to the king, ³"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 it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"

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

5 They crossed the Jordan and began from ⁴Aroer,^[b] and from the city that is in the middle of the ⁵valley, toward Gad and on to ⁶Jazer.

6 Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;^[c] and they came to Dan, and from Dan^[d] they went around to ⁷Sidon,

7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the ⁸Hivites and ⁹Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.

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

9 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men ¹⁰who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

2 Samuel 24:1-9 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.

Cross References

• 1. [1 Chronicles 27:23, 24]
• 2. ver. 15; See 2 Samuel 3:10
• 3. Deuteronomy 1:11
• 4. Deuteronomy 2:36; Joshua 13:9, 16
• 5. [Numbers 13:23]
• 6. Numbers 21:32; Numbers 32:1, 3
• 7. Joshua 19:28; Judges 18:28
• 8. Joshua 11:3; Judges 3:3
• 9. Joshua 11:3; Judges 3:3
• 10. Judges 8:10

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint to Joab and the commanders of the army
• [b]. Septuagint; Hebrew encamped in Aroer
• [c]. Septuagint; Hebrew to the land of Tahtim-hodshi
• [d]. Septuagint; Hebrew they came to Dan-jaan and