1 Again the anger of Yahweh blazed out against Israel. So he let David harm them in this way, "Count the people of Israel and Judah."
2 The king said to Joab and the commanders of the army who were with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and count the people that I may know how many they are."
3 Joab told the king, "May Yahweh your God multiply the people a hundred times and may my lord the king see this blessing. But why does my lord the king want to take a census?"
4 But the king's word prevailed so that Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the king's presence in order to count the people of Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan and started with Aroer, the city in the middle of the valley, and went on toward Gad and to Jazer.
6 Then they proceeded to Gilead and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites. They then went to Dan, and from Dan to Sidon,
7 and arrived at the fortress of Tyre and the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. They went out through the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba and
8 after having gone through all the land, returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 Joab gave the total count of the people to the king: eight hundred thousand sword-wielding warriors in Israel and five hundred thousand men in Judah.
10 But after he had the people counted, David felt remorse and said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now, O Yahweh, I ask you to forgive my sin for I have acted foolishly."
11 The following day, before David awoke, Yahweh's word had come to the prophet Gad, David's seer,
12 "Go, and give David this message: I offer you three things and I will let one of them befall you according to your own choice."
13 So Gad went to David and asked him, "Do you want three years of famine in your land? Or do you want to be pursued for three months by your foes while you flee from them? Or do you want three days' pestilence in your land? Now, think and decide what answer I shall give him who sent me."
14 David answered Gad, "I am greatly troubled. Let me fall into the hands of Yahweh whose mercy is abundant; but let me not fall into the hands of men."
15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from morning until the appointed time, causing the death of seventy thousand men from Dan to Beersheba.
16 When the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh would punish no more and said to the angel who was causing destruction among the people, "It is enough, hold back your hand." The angel of Yahweh was already at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel striking the people, he spoke to Yahweh and said, "I have sinned and acted wickedly, but these are only the sheep; what have they done? Let your hand strike me and my father's family."
18 Gad went to David that day and said to him, "Go, set up an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
19 So David left to follow Yahweh's command made through Gad.
20 When Araunah saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went forward, paid homage to the king with his face to the ground, and said,
21 "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David answered, "I will buy your threshing floor in order to build an altar to Yahweh so that the plague may end among the people."
22 Then Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take the threshing floor and offer the sacrifice that seems good to him: here you have my oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges, and the oxen's yokes for the wood.
23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king. May Yahweh your God hear you."
24 But the king said to Araunah, "No, I will pay you for all this, for I will not offer to Yahweh my God something that costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25 David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh had mercy on the land and the plague ended in Israel.
Versículos relacionados com 2 Samuel, 24:
In chapter 24 of 2 Samuel, David orders a census to be held in Israel and Judah, which displeases God. As a punishment, God sends a plague that kills many Israelites. David repents and offers sacrifices to appease God's wrath. Below are five verses related to the topics covered in the chapter:
1 Chronicles 21:7: "It displeased God, and He injured Israel." This verse shows God's wrath on the census that David commanded.
2 Samuel 24:10: "David felt remorse after he had told the people and said to the Lord, 'I made a great mistake. Now, Lord, forgive the guilt of this servant, for I act foolishly.' This verse shows David's regret for his decision to tell the people.
2 Samuel 24:15: "Then the Lord sent an angel, and he destroyed the whole army of the Assyrians, including the camp and the people." This verse shows how God intervened to save his people from the plague he had sent.
2 Samuel 24:24: "No! I want to buy it for its fair value. I will not offer the Lord my God, burnt offering that cost me nothing." This verse shows David's attitude toward the sacrifices he offered to God as a form of repentance.
2 Samuel 24:25: "David there built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offering and peace offers. Then the Lord answered his prayers in favor of the earth, and the plague in Israel was interrupted." This verse shows how David's prayers and his sacrifices were accepted by God and how the plague was interrupted.
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