2 Samuel 24:10-20

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!"

15 So the Lord sent a terrible disease on Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand people died.

16 When the angel raised his arm toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord felt very sorry about the terrible things that had happened. He said to the angel who was destroying the people, "That is enough! Put down your arm!" The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 When David saw the angel that killed the people, he said to the Lord, "I am the one who sinned and did wrong. These people only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong. Please punish me and my family."

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

19 So David did what Gad told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.

20 Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and bowed facedown on the ground before the king.

2 Samuel 24:10-20 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.