King David said to Joab, the captain of the army, "Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people. Then I will know how many people there are."
But Joab said to the king, "May the Lord your God give you 100 times as many people, no matter how many there are! And may your eyes see this thing happen. But why do you want to do this?"
King David strongly commanded Joab and the other captains of the army to count the people. So they went out from the king to count the people of Israel.
After they crossed over the Jordan River, they made their camp in Aroer on the right side of the city. (The city is in the middle of the valley of Gad, on the way to Jazer.)
They went to the fort of Tyre. They went to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites. Then they went south to Beersheba in the southern part of Judah.
David felt ashamed after he had counted the people and said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I did! Lord, I beg you, forgive me for my sin. I have been very foolish."
So Gad went to David and said to him, "Choose one of these three things: seven years of famine for you and your country, or your enemies will chase you for three months, or three days of disease in your country. Think about it, and choose one of these things. Then I will tell the Lord who sent me about your choice."
So the Lord sent a disease against Israel. It began in the morning and continued until the chosen time to stop. From Dan to Beersheba 70,000 people died.
The angel raised his arm over Jerusalem and was ready to destroy it, but the Lord felt very sorry about the bad things that had happened. He said to the angel who destroyed the people, "That's enough! Put down your arm." The Lord's angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When he saw the angel who killed the people, David spoke to the Lord. David said, "I sinned! I did wrong! And these people only did what I told them—they only followed me like sheep. They did nothing wrong. Please let your punishment be against me and my father's family."
He said, "Why has my lord and king come to me?" David answered, "I came to buy the threshing floor from you. Then I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the disease will stop."
Araunah said to David, "My lord and king, you can take anything you want for a sacrifice. Here are some cows for the burnt offering, and the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood.
But the king said to Araunah, "No! I tell you the truth, I will pay you for the these things. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the cows for 50 shekels of silver.
Then David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The Lord answered his prayer for the country. He stopped the disease in Israel. choose to let the Lord punish us. Don't let my punishment come from people."