The First Book of the Chronicles

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- Chapter 21 -

(Exodus 30:11–16; 2 Samuel 24:1–9)

Satan decided to cause the Israelite people to have trouble. So he incited David to find out how many men in Israel were able to be in the army.

So David commanded Joab and the other army commanders, “Count all the men in Israel who are able to be in the army. Start at Beersheba in the south and go all the way to Dan in the north. Then come back and report to me, in order that I may know how many men there are.”

But Joab replied, “Your Majesty, I hope that Yahweh will make our army a hundred times larger than it is now. But we all serve you. So you should not commit this sin and make Israel suffer for it.”

But David would not change his mind. So Joab and his soldiers went everywhere in Israel and in Judah, and counted the people. Then they returned to Jerusalem,

and they reported to David that there were 1,100,000 men in Israel who could be in the army, and 470,000 in Judah.

However, Joab did not count the men from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he was disgusted with what the king had commanded.

Judgment for David’s Sin

(2 Samuel 24:10–14)

David’s command to count the people caused God to become angry, so he told David that he had decided to punish the people of Israel.

Then David prayed to God. He said to him, “What I did was very foolish. I have sinned greatly by what I have done. So now I plead with you, please forgive me.”

Then Yahweh said to Gad, David’s prophet,

“Go and tell this to David: ‘I am allowing you to choose one of three things to punish you. I will do whichever one you choose.’”

So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what Yahweh says: ’You can choose one of these punishments:

Three years of famine in Israel, or three months during which your armies will run away from their enemies who will attack them with swords, or three days during which I will send my angel to cause many people in the country to die because of a plague.’ So you must decide what I will say to answer Yahweh, the one who sent me.”

David replied to Gad, “I am very distressed. But allow Yahweh to punish me, because he is very merciful. Do not allow humans to punish me, because they will not be merciful.”

A Plague on Israel

(2 Samuel 24:15–17)

So Yahweh sent a plague on the people of Israel, and seventy thousand of them died because of it.

And God sent an angel to destroy the people in Jerusalem by the plague. But when the angel was standing at the ground where Ornan, from the Jebus people group, threshed grain, Yahweh saw all the suffering that the people had endured, and he was grieved. So he said to the angel, “Stop what you are doing! That is enough!”

David looked up and saw the angel whom Yahweh had sent, standing between the sky and the ground. The angel had a sword in his hand that was pointed toward Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of the city, who were wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, prostrated themselves on the ground.

David said to God, “I am the one who ordered the men who could be in the army to be counted. I am the one who has sinned and done what is very wrong, but these people are as innocent as sheep. They have certainly not done anything that is wrong. So Yahweh my God, punish me and my family, but do not allow this plague to continue to cause your people to become sick and die.”

David Builds an Altar

(2 Samuel 24:18–25)

Then the angel who was sent by Yahweh told Gad to go up to the place where Ornan threshed grain and tell David to build an altar to worship Yahweh there.

So after Gad told David, he obeyed the message that Yahweh had given to Gad, and he went up there.

While Ornan was threshing some wheat, he turned and saw the angel. His four sons who were with him also saw the angel, and they hid themselves.

Then David approached. When Ornan saw him, he left the place where he was threshing grain and prostrated himself, with his face touching the ground.

David said to him, “Please sell me this place for threshing in order that I can build an altar here to worship Yahweh, in order that he will stop this plague. I will pay the full price.”

Ornan replied, “Take it! Your Majesty, do whatever you want to. I will give you the oxen that thresh the grain for an offering to be completely burned on the altar. And I will give you the threshing boards to use as wood on the altar, and I will give you flour for a flour offering. I will give all those things to you.”

But the king said to Ornan, “No, I will not take these things as a gift. I will pay you the full price for it. I will not take what belongs to you, and offer sacrifices that have cost me nothing and offer them to Yahweh to be completely burned on the altar.”

So David paid to Ornan six and one-half kilograms of gold for the whole area.

David built an altar to worship Yahweh there, and he offered sacrifices to be completely burned on the altar and sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh. David prayed to Yahweh, and Yahweh answered by sending a fire from heaven to burn up the offerings on the altar.

Then Yahweh spoke to the angel, and told him to put his sword back into its sheath. So the angel did that.

And when David saw that Yahweh had answered him there at the place where Ornan threshed grain and had ended the plague, he offered sacrifices there.

Yahweh’s sacred tent, which Moses had commanded to be set up in the wilderness, and the altar for burning sacrifices completely, were at that time on a hill at the city of Gibeon.

But David did not want to go there to request God to tell him what he wanted David to do, because he was afraid that the angel sent from Yahweh might strike him with his sword; he realized that this was the place that Yahweh now wanted sacrifices to be made.

(Exodus 30:11–16; 2 Samuel 24:1–9)

Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.

David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know how many there are.”

Joab said, “May the LORD make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?”

Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, then came to Jerusalem.

Joab gave the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword.

But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.

Judgment for David’s Sin

(2 Samuel 24:10–14)

God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.

David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

The LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,

“Go and speak to David, saying, ‘The LORD says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’”

So Gad came to David and said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Take your choice:

either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the LORD’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’”

David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the LORD’s hand, for his mercies are very great. Don’t let me fall into man’s hand.”

A Plague on Israel

(2 Samuel 24:15–17)

So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.

God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, the LORD saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” the LORD’s angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David lifted up his eyes, and saw the LORD’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

David said to God, “Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be counted? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.”

David Builds an Altar

(2 Samuel 24:18–25)

Then the LORD’s angel commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up and raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the LORD’s name.

Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

Then David said to Ornan, “Sell me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD on it. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”

Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all.”

King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels

(a)

of gold by weight for the place.

David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

Then The LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

For the LORD’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the LORD’s angel.

Footnotes

(a)21:25 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels was about 6 kilograms or about 192 Troy ounces.