David Numbers Israel and Judah

241 Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, “Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people.” 3 Joab said to the king, “Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5 They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer: 6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon, 7 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, at Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to 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 David’s heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” 11 When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’” 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man.” 15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now stay your hand.” The angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.”

18 Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded. 20 Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

David said, “To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.” 22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood: 23 all this, king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God accept you.” 24 The king said to Araunah, “No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

David Numbers Israel and Judah

211 Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 2 David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them. 3 Joab said, Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel? 4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. 5 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew sword: and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew sword. 6 But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.

7 God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel. 8 David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly. 9 Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose one of them, that I may do it to you. 11 So Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Take your choice: 12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me. 13 David said to Gad, I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh; for very great are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. 15 God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 David said to God, Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.

18 Then the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to tell David, that David should go up, and raise an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh. 20 Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. 21 As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. 22 Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build thereon an altar to Yahweh: for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people. 23 Ornan said to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: behold, I give you the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering; I give it all. 24 King David said to Ornan, No; but I will most certainly buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is yours for Yahweh, nor offer a burnt offering without cost. 25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. 26 David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering. 27 Yahweh commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath.

The Site for the Temple

28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 29 For the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

221 Then David said, This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.

David's Preparation for the Temple

2 David commanded to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut worked stones to build the house of God. 3 David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4 and cedar trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David. 5 David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Yahweh must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

6 Then he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of Yahweh my God. 8 But the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars: you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days: 10 he shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. 11 Now, my son, Yahweh be with you; and prosper you, and build the house of Yahweh your God, as he has spoken concerning you. 12 May Yahweh give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel; that so you may keep the law of Yahweh your God. 13 Then you shall prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which Yahweh gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong, and of good courage. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed. 14 Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Yahweh one hundred thousand talents of gold, and one million talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and you may add to them. 15 There are also workmen with you in abundance, cutters and workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of men who are skillful in every kind of work: 16 of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and Yahweh be with you.

17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 18 Isn’t Yahweh your God with you? Hasn’t he given you rest on every side? for he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Yahweh, and before his people. 19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Yahweh your God; arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Yahweh.

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death

301 I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up,
and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 Yahweh my God, I cried to you,
and you have healed me. 3 Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his.
Give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment.
His favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may stay for the night,
but joy comes in the morning.

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.” 7 You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong;
but when you hid your face, I was troubled. 8 I cried to you, Yahweh.
To Yahweh I made supplication: 9 “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise you?
Shall it declare your truth? 10 Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me.
Yahweh, be my helper.” 11 You have turned my mourning into dancing for me.
You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, 12 To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent.
Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!