began to number
1 Chronicles 21:1-17
1
And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
2
And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it."
3
And Joab answered, "The LORD make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then doth my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?"
4
Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
5
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men who drew the sword.
6
But Levi and Benjamin he counted not among them, for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
7
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He smote Israel.
8
And David said unto God, "I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now, I beseech Thee, do away with the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very foolishly."
9
And the LORD spoke unto Gad, David's seer, saying,
10
"Go and tell David, saying, `Thus saith the LORD: I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.'"
11
So Gad came to David, and said unto him, "Thus saith the LORD: `Choose thee
12
either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence in the land and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel.' Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring back to Him that sent me."
13
And David said unto Gad, "I am in dire straits. Let me fall now into the hand of the LORD, for very great are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man."
14
So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and He repented of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed, "It is enough. Stay now thine hand." And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16
And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
17
And David said unto God, "Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is who have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O LORD my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not on Thy people, that they should be plagued."
2 Samuel 24:1-15
1
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he [Satan] moved David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah."
2
For the king said to Joab the captain of the host who was with him, "Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people."
3
And Joab said unto the king, "Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many so ever they be, a hundredfold, that the eyes of my lord the king may see it. But why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?"
4
Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.
5
And they passed over the Jordan and pitched camp in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer.
6
Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan and about to Sidon,
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and came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.
8
So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
10
And David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said unto 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 was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
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"Go, and say unto David, `Thus saith the LORD: I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.'"
13
So Gad came to David and told him, and said unto him, "Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to Him that sent me."
14
And David said unto 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."
15
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.