1. The Lord was angry with Israel once more, and he made David bring trouble on them. The Lord said to him, “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2. So David gave orders to Joab, the commander of his army: “Go with your officers through all the tribes of Israel from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are.”
3. But Joab answered the king, “Your Majesty, may the Lord your God make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now, and may you live to see him do it. But why does Your Majesty want to do this?”
4. But the king made Joab and his officers obey his order; they left his presence and went out to count the people of Israel.
5. They crossed the Jordan and camped south of Aroer, the city in the middle of the valley, in the territory of Gad. From there they went north to Jazer,
6. and on to Gilead and to Kadesh, in Hittite territory. Then they went to Dan, and from Dan they went west to Sidon.
7. Then they went south to the fortified city of Tyre, on to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and finally to Beersheba, in the southern part of Judah.
8. So after nine months and twenty days they returned to Jerusalem, having travelled through the whole country.
9. They reported to the king the total number of men capable of military service: 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.
10. But after David had taken the census, his conscience began to trouble him, and he said to the Lord, “I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.”
11-12. The Lord said to Gad, David's prophet, “Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses.” The next morning, after David got up,
13. Gad went to him, told him what the Lord had said, and asked, “Which is it to be? Three years of famine in your land or three months of running away from your enemies or three days of an epidemic in your land? Now think it over, and tell me what answer to take back to the Lord.”
14. David answered, “I am in a desperate situation! But I don't want to be punished by human beings. Let the Lord himself be the one to punish us, for he is merciful.”