2 Samuel 24:1-9

1 And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda.
2 And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them.
3 And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing?
4 But the king’s words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.
5 And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad.
6 And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon,
7 They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee:
8 And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.
9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men.

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.

The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.