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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>2 Samuel 24 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_samuel/24.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/2_samuel/24-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > 2 Samuel 24</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_samuel/23.htm" title="2 Samuel 23">◄</a> 2 Samuel 24 <a href="../1_kings/1.htm" title="1 Kings 1">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/2_samuel/24.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">David Takes a Census</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Once again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the LORD told him.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>So the king said to Joab and the commanders<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> of the army, “Take a census of all the tribes of Israel—from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south—so I may know how many people there are.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God let you live to see a hundred times as many people as there are now! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out to count the people of Israel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>First they crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the town in the valley, in the direction of Gad. Then they went on to Jazer, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>then to Gilead in the land of Tahtim-hodshi<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> and to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then they came to the fortress of Tyre, and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went south to Judah<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> as far as Beersheba.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Having gone through the entire land for nine months and twenty days, they returned to Jerusalem. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Joab reported the number of people to the king. There were 800,000 capable warriors in Israel who could handle a sword, and 500,000 in Judah.</p><p class="hdg">Judgment for David’s Sin</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, LORD, for doing this foolish thing.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>The next morning the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> years of famine throughout your land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of severe plague throughout your land? Think this over and decide what answer I should give the LORD who sent me.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>When David saw the angel, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.”</p><p class="hdg">David Builds an Altar</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>So David went up to do what the LORD had commanded him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>“Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked.</p><p class="reg">David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the LORD there, so that he will stop the plague.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the LORD your God accept your sacrifice.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the LORD my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">f</span></a> for the threshing floor and the oxen.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/24-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>David built an altar there to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the LORD answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">24:2 </span><span class="ft">As in Greek version (see also 24:4 and 1 Chr 21:2); Hebrew reads </span><span class="it">Joab the commander.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">24:6 </span><span class="ft">Greek version reads </span><span class="it">to Gilead and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">24:7 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">they went to the Negev of Judah.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">24:13 </span><span class="ft">As in Greek version (see also 1 Chr 21:12); Hebrew reads </span><span class="it">seven.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">24:15 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">for the designated time.</span><br><span class="fn">f</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">24:24 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">50 shekels of silver,</span><span class="ft"> about 20 ounces or 570 grams in weight.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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