1Chronicles:21:1-22
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Now Satan stood up against Israel ,
and moved David to number Israel .
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So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people , "
Go ,
number Israel from Beersheba to Dan ,
and bring the number of them to me that I may know it ."
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And Joab answered , "
May 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 does my lord require this thing ?
Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel ?"
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Nevertheless the king '
s word prevailed against Joab .
Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem .
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Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David .
All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword ,
and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword .
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But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them ,
for the king '
s word was abominable to Joab .
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And God was displeased with this thing ;
therefore He struck Israel .
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So David said to God , "
I have sinned greatly ,
because I have done this thing ;
but now ,
I pray ,
take away the iniquity of Your servant ,
for I have done very foolishly ."
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Then the LORD spoke to Gad ,
David '
s seer ,
saying ,
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Go and tell David ,
saying , "
Thus says the LORD : "
I offer you three things ;
choose one of them for yourself ,
that I may do it to you .""'
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So Gad came to David and said to him , "
Thus says the LORD : "
Choose for yourself ,
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either three years of famine ,
or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you ,
or else for three days the sword of the LORD--the plague in the land ,
with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel .'
Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me ."
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And David said to Gad , "
I am in great distress .
Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD ,
for His mercies are very great ;
but do not let me fall into the hand of man ."
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So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel ,
and seventy thousand men of Israel fell .
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And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it .
As he was destroying ,
the LORD looked and relented of the disaster ,
and said to the angel who was destroying , "
It is enough ;
now restrain your hand ."
And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite .
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Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven ,
having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem .
So David and the elders ,
clothed in sackcloth ,
fell on their faces .
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And David said to God , "
Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered ?
I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed ;
but these sheep ,
what have they done ?
Let Your hand ,
I pray ,
O LORD my God ,
be against me and my father '
s house ,
but not against Your people that they should be plagued ."
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Therefore ,
the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite .
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So David went up at the word of Gad ,
which he had spoken in the name of the LORD .
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Now Ornan turned and saw the angel ;
and his four sons who were with him hid themselves ,
but Ornan continued threshing wheat .
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So David came to Ornan ,
and Ornan looked and saw David .
And he went out from the threshing floor ,
and bowed before David with his face to the ground .
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Then David said to Ornan , "
Grant me the place of this threshing floor ,
that I may build an altar on it to the LORD .
You shall grant it to me at the full price ,
that the plague may be withdrawn from the people ."