1 Chronicles, Chapter 21:
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Verses from 1 Chronicles, Chapter 21 of the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible.
David counts the men of war
- 1. Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of the people.
- 2. David ordered Joab and the army leaders, “Go, count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me the report so I will know how many there are.”
- 3. Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply your people a hundredfold, my lord, O king. They are all my lord's servants. Why does my lord want to do this? Why bring guilt upon Israel?”
- 4. But the king's command prevailed, and Joab departed, passed through all Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
- 5. Joab gave David the census number of the people: there were one million and one hundred thousand men fit for military service in all Israel, with four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.
- 6. But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the census, because the king's order seemed absurd to him.
- 7. This attitude displeased God, and He punished Israel for it.
- 8. Then David said to God, “I have sinned grievously by doing this. Now I beg you to forgive the guilt of your servant, for I acted foolishly.”
- 9. The Lord said to Gad, David's seer:
- 10. “Go tell David: This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three options; Choose one of them, and I will execute it.”
- 11. Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: 'Choose between three years of famine, three months of defeat before your adversaries with their sword upon you, or three days of plague in the land, while the angel of the Lord devastates the entire territory of Israel'. Now decide what I must answer to the one who sent me.”
- 12. David replied, “I am in great distress. However, I would rather fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great, than into the hands of men.”
- 13. Then the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand people died.
- 14. When the angel of the Lord was about to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord looked and repented of the calamity, and said to the destroying angel: “Enough! Now pick up your sword.” At that moment the angel of the Lord was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- 15. David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord between heaven and earth, wielding a sword, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the leaders of Israel, dressed in mourning, fell facedown on the ground.
- 16. David said to God, “Did I not command you to take a census of the people? I am to blame and responsible for the error. These sheep did nothing wrong. O Lord my God, may your hand fall on me and my family, but not on your people.”
- 17. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- 18. David went according to the word of Gad, which the Lord had spoken in his name.
- 19. Araunah was threshing wheat when he looked and saw the angel. He and his four children who were with him hid.
- 20. When David arrived, Araunah came out of the threshing floor and fell down before him, face to the ground.
- 21. David said to Araunah, “Sell me the threshing floor for a fair price, so that I can build an altar to the Lord and the plague will cease from the people.”
- 22. Araunah answered David, “Take it all, my lord the king. May the Lord your God accept you.”
- 23. But the king said to Araunah, “No! I will insist on paying the fair price. I will not offer what is yours to the Lord, nor will I sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”
- 24. Then David bought the threshing floor and the ox for fifty bars of silver.
- 25. David built an altar there to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and communion sacrifices. He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire that came down from heaven on the altar of burnt offerings.
- 26. The Lord gave an order to the angel, who put away the sword.
- 27. At that moment David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and he offered sacrifices there.
- 28. The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were on high in Gibeon.
- 29. David, however, could not go there to consult God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord. Therefore, David did not seek the Lord there.
- 30. David was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord and could not consult God in the tabernacle that was in Gibeon.
