2 Samuel 24:12

12 Go and say to David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three [things]; choose thee one of them, that I may [do it] to thee.

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 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, I have sinned greatly in what I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

11 For when David had risen in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

12 Go and say to David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three [things]; choose thee one of them, that I may [do it] to thee.

13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come upon thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now consider, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

14 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies [are] great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.