21 Then Satan stood up against Isra'Al and incited David to number Isra'Al. 2 So David said to Joʹab and the chiefs of the people: “Go, count Isra'Al from Beʹer-sheʹba to Dan; then report to me so that I may know their number.” 3 But Joʹab said: “May Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} multiply his people 100 times! My lord the king, are not all of them already servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he become a cause of guilt to Isra'Al?”
4 But the king’s word prevailed over Joʹab. So Joʹab went out and traveled throughout Isra'Al, after which he came to Yerushalom. 5 Joʹab now gave to David the number of the people who were registered. All Isra'Al amounted to 1,100,000 men armed with swords, and Judah, 470,000 men armed with swords. 6 But Leʹvi and Benjamin were not registered among them, because the king’s word was detestable to Joʹab.
7 Now this was very displeasing to the true Al {pre. Ahl}, so he struck Isra'Al. 8 David then said to the true Al {pre. Ahl}: “I have sinned greatly by doing this. And now, please, forgive your servant’s error, for I have acted very foolishly.” 9 Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} then spoke to Gad, David’s visionary, saying: 10 “Go and say to David, ‘This is what Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} says: “I am giving you three options. Choose the one that I should bring on you.”’” 11 So Gad came in to David and said to him: “This is what Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} says, ‘Take your pick 12 whether there should be three years of famine, or three months of being swept away by your adversaries while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}—pestilence in the land—with Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel bringing destruction in all the territory of Isra'Al.’ Now consider what I should reply to the One who sent me.” 13 So David said to Gad: “It is very distressing to me. Please, let me fall into the hand of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
14 Then Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} sent a pestilence on Isra'Al, so that 70,000 people out of Isra'Al fell. 15 Moreover, the true Al {pre. Ahl} sent an angel to Yerushalom to destroy it; but as he was about to do so, Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} saw it and felt regret over the calamity, and he said to the angel bringing destruction: “It is enough! Now let your hand drop.” Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel was standing close to the threshing floor of Orʹnan the Yebʹu·site.
16 When David raised his eyes, he saw Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel standing between the earth and the heavens with a drawn sword in his hand extended toward Yerushalom. David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, at once threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. 17 David said to the true Al {pre. Ahl}: “Was it not I who said to number the people? I am the one who sinned, and I am the one who did wrong; but these sheep—what have they done? O Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} my Al {pre. Ahl}, let your hand, please, come against me and my father’s house; but do not bring this scourge on your people.”
18 Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel then told Gad to tell David to go up and erect an altar to Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} on the threshing floor of Orʹnan the Yebʹu·site. 19 So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}. 20 Meanwhile, Orʹnan turned around and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Orʹnan had been threshing wheat. 21 When David came up to him, Orʹnan looked and saw David, and he immediately went out from the threshing floor and bowed down to David with his face to the ground. 22 David said to Orʹnan: “Sell me the site of the threshing floor, so that I may build an altar to Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} on it. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the scourge against the people may be halted.” 23 But Orʹnan said to David: “Take it as your own, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. Here, I am providing the cattle for burnt offerings and the threshing sledge for the wood and the wheat as a grain offering. I give all of it.”
24 However, King David said to Orʹnan: “No, I must buy it for the full price, because I will not take what is yours and give it to Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} or offer up burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.” 25 So David gave Orʹnan 600 gold shekels by weight for the site. 26 And David built an altar there to Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} and offered up burnt sacrifices and communion sacrifices, and he called on Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, who now answered him with fire from the heavens on the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} ordered the angel to return his sword to its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} had answered him at the threshing floor of Orʹnan the Yebʹu·site, he continued to sacrifice there. 29 However, the tabernacle of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibʹe·on. 30 But David had not been able to go before it to consult Al {pre. Ahl}, for he was terrified because of the sword of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel.