2 Samuel 24 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Again Yahweh's anger burned against Israel, and he stirred up David against them, saying, "Go, count Israel and Judah."

So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the fighting men so I can know how many there are."

But Joab said to the king, "May Yahweh your God multiply the people a hundred times over — and may your own eyes see it, my lord the king! But why does my lord the king want to do this?"

But the king's word overruled Joab and the army commanders. So Joab and the commanders left the king's presence to go register the people of Israel.

They crossed the Jordan and began at Aroer, south of the city in the middle of the valley, and went toward Gad and on to Jazer.

Then they came to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites near Kadesh. They went on to Dan, and from Dan they circled around toward Sidon.

Then they came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Finally, they went to the southern desert of Judah at Beersheba.

After going through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

Joab reported the count to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand fighting men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

But after David had counted the people, his conscience tore at him. David said to Yahweh, "What I did was deeply wrong. Now, Yahweh, please take away your servant's guilt, because I have acted like a complete fool."

When David got up the next morning, a message from Yahweh had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer:

"Go and tell David, 'This is what Yahweh says: I'm giving you three options. Choose one, and I will carry it out against you.'"

So Gad went to David and said to him, "Should three years of famine come to your land? Or should you flee from your enemies for three months while they chase you? Or should there be three days of plague in your land? Think it over and decide what answer I should bring back to the one who sent me."

David said to Gad, "I'm in terrible anguish. Let us fall into Yahweh's hands, because his mercy is great. But don't let me fall into human hands."

So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand people died.

When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh was grieved by the devastation and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Pull back your hand." The angel of Yahweh was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel striking the people down, he said to Yahweh, "Look, I'm the one who did wrong! I'm the one who failed! But these people — they're just sheep! What did they do? Let your hand fall on me and my family instead."

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

So David went up, just as Yahweh had commanded through Gad.

When Araunah looked down and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy your threshing floor, so I can build an altar to Yahweh and the plague against the people will stop."

Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever he wants and offer it up. Here — the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the firewood."

All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May Yahweh your God accept you."

But the king said to Araunah, "No. I insist on paying you the full price. I will not offer to Yahweh my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

David built an altar to Yahweh there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Yahweh answered the prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.