1. Again the Lord became angry against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.”
2. The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go throughout all of the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and muster the people so that I may know the number of the people.”
3. Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people however many they are one hundred times over in the sight of my lord the king. But why does my lord the king so desire this thing?”
4. However, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king to register the people of Israel.
5. They crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the city, in the middle of the ravine of Gad toward Jazer.
6. They went toward Gilead to the land of Tahtim Hodshi. Then they went toward Dan Jaan and around to Sidon.
7. They went to the fortress of Tyre and all of the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. They went to the Negev and Beersheba.
8. They went throughout the entire land, and after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.
9. Joab gave the count of the census of the people to the king. There were eight hundred thousand capable men who could draw a sword in Israel, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.
10. Now the heart of David struck him after he had counted the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by what I have done. Now may the Lord take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have behaved very foolishly.”
11. When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, the seer for David, saying,
12. “Go and speak to David: Thus says the Lord: Three options I am laying before you. Choose for yourself one of them, and I will do this to you.”
13. So Gad came to David and told him. He said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now consider and advise what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.”