David Counts the People
(2 Samuel 24.1-9)1 Satan decided to cause trouble for Israel by making David think it was a good idea to find out how many people there were in Israel and Judah. 2 David told Joab and the army commanders, “Count everyone in Israel, from the town of Beersheba in the south all the way north to Dan. Then I will know how many people can serve in my army.”
3 Joab answered, “Your Majesty, even if the Lord made your kingdom a hundred times larger, you would still rule everyone in it. Why do you need to know how many soldiers there are? Don't you think that would make the whole nation angry?”
4 But David would not change his mind. And so Joab went everywhere in Israel and Judah and counted the people. He returned to Jerusalem 5 and told David that the total number of men who could serve in the army was 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. 6 Joab refused to include anyone from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he still disagreed with David's orders.
God Punishes Israel
(2 Samuel 24.10-17)7 David's order to count the people made God angry, and he punished Israel. 8 David prayed, “I am your servant. But what I did was stupid and terribly wrong. Please forgive me.”
9 The Lord said to Gad, one of David's prophets, 10 “Tell David that I will punish him in one of three ways. But he will have to choose which one it will be.”
11 Gad went to David and told him:
You must choose how the Lord will punish you: 12 Will there be three years when the land won't grow enough food for its people? Or will your enemies constantly defeat you for three months? Or will the Lord send a horrible disease to strike your land for three days? Think about it and decide, because I have to give your answer to God who sent me.
13 David was miserable and said, “It's a terrible choice to make! But the Lord is kind, and I'd rather be punished by him than by anyone else.”
14 So the Lord sent a horrible disease on Israel, and 70,000 Israelites died. 15 Then he sent an angel to destroy the city of Jerusalem. But just as the angel was about to do that, the Lord felt sorry for all the suffering he had caused the people, and he told the angel, “Stop! They have suffered enough.” This happened at the threshing place that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.
16 David saw the Lord's angel in the air, holding a sword over Jerusalem. He and the leaders of Israel, who were all wearing sackcloth, bowed with their faces to the ground, 17 and David prayed, “It's my fault! I sinned by ordering the people to be counted. They have done nothing wrong—they are innocent sheep. Lord God, please punish me and my family. Don't let the disease wipe out your people.”
David Buys Araunah's Threshing Place
(2 Samuel 24.18-25)18 The Lord's angel told the prophet Gad to tell David that he must go to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar in honor of the Lord. 19 David followed the Lord's instructions.
20 Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat at the time, and when they saw the angel, the four sons ran to hide. 21 Just then, David arrived, and when Araunah saw him, he stopped his work and bowed down.
22 David said, “Would you sell me your threshing place, so I can build an altar on it to the Lord? Then this disease will stop killing the people. I'm willing to pay whatever you say it's worth.”
23 Araunah answered, “Take it, Your Majesty, and do whatever you want with it. I'll even give you the oxen for the sacrifice and the wheat for the grain sacrifice. And you can use the threshing-boards for the fire. It's all yours!”
24 But David replied, “No! I want to pay you what they're worth. I can't just take something from you and then offer the Lord a sacrifice that cost me nothing.”
25 So David paid Araunah 600 gold coins for his threshing place. 26 David built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the Lord and sacrifices to ask his blessing. David prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire down on the altar. 27 Then the Lord commanded the angel to put the sword away.
28 When David saw that the Lord had answered his prayer, he offered more sacrifices there at the threshing place, 29-30 because he was afraid of the angel's sword and did not want to go all the way to Gibeon. That's where the sacred tent that Moses had made in the desert was kept, as well as the altar where sacrifices were offered to the Lord.
Tautas skaitīšana
(2Sam 24:1–17)1 Sātans sāka kaitēt Israēlam un vedināja Dāvidu saskaitīt Israēlu. 2 Dāvids sacīja Joābam un tautas augstmaņiem: “Ejiet un saskaitiet Israēlu no Bēršebas līdz Dānam un ziņojiet man, kāds ir viņu skaits!” 3 Tad Joābs teica: “Lai Kungs simtkārt vairo savu ļaužu skaitu! Mans kungs, ķēniņ, vai tie visi nav mana kunga kalpi? Kāpēc mans kungs to prasa? Kāpēc uzlikt Israēlam tādu sodību?” 4 Taču Joābam bija jāpilda ķēniņa teiktais, viņš pārstaigāja visu Israēlu un pēc tam atgriezās Jeruzālemē. 5 Joābs paziņoja Dāvidam saskaitīto ļaužu skaitu – viss Israēls kopā bija tūkstoš tūkstoši un simts tūkstoši vīru, kas spēja rīkoties ar zobenu, bet Jūdā tādu vīru bija četri simti septiņdesmit tūkstoši. 6 Levīti un benjāminieši netika skaitīti, jo Joābam riebās ķēniņa pavēle. 7 Bet Dievam šī lieta šķita ļauna, un viņš sita Israēlu.
8 Dāvids teica Dievam: “Es esmu ļoti grēkojis, tā darīdams, noņem jel sava kalpa vainu, jo es esmu izdarījis lielu muļķību!”
9 Kungs teica Dāvida redzētājam Gādam: 10 “Ej un saki Dāvidam: tā saka Kungs: es tev ļauju izvēlēties vienu no trīs lietām, un to es tev darīšu!” 11 Gāds devās pie Dāvida un teica viņam: “Tā saka Kungs: izvēlies! 12 Vai nu trīs bada gadi, vai trīs mēneši tev jābēguļo no pretiniekiem, no ienaidnieku zobena, kas tevi vajā, vai lai trīs dienas Kunga zobens, mēris un Kunga eņģelis posta zemi visos Israēla novados? Apdomā, ko man teikt tam, kurš mani šurp sūtījis!”
13 Dāvids sacīja Gādam: “Es esmu lielā postā, tomēr labāk krītu Kunga rokās, jo viņa žēlsirdība ir liela, bet cilvēka rokās krist es negribu!” 14 Tad Kungs sūtīja Israēlam mēri, un Israēlā krita septiņdesmit tūkstoši vīru. 15 Kungs sūtīja eņģeli postīt Jeruzālemi, un, kad viņš to postīja, Kungs to uzlūkoja – un viņš mitējās darīt ļaunu un sacīja posta eņģelim: “Gana! Apturi savu roku!” Tobrīd Kunga eņģelis stāvēja pie jebūsieša Ornāna klona.
16 Dāvids paskatījās augšup un ieraudzīja Kunga eņģeli stāvam starp zemi un debesīm izvilktu zobenu, kas pacelts pār Jeruzālemi! Tad Dāvids un vecajie, maisos tērpti, krita uz sava vaiga. 17 Dāvids teica Dievam: “Vai tad ne es liku skaitīt tautu?! Es esmu tas, kurš grēkojis un darījis ļauni, bet ko tad darījušas šīs avis? Kungs, mans Dievs, stājies jel pret mani un mana tēva namu, bet nesodi savus ļaudis!”
Altāris uz Ornāna klona
(2Sam 24:18–25)18 Tad Kunga eņģelis sacīja Gādam: “Saki Dāvidam, lai Dāvids dodas augšup un uz jebūsieša Ornāna klona ceļ Kungam altāri.” 19 Dāvids devās augšup, kā Gāds Kunga vārdā bija teicis. 20 Ornāns pagriezās un ieraudzīja eņģeli! Viņa četri dēli, kas bija kopā ar viņu, paslēpās. Tobrīd Ornāns kūla kviešus. 21 Dāvids nāca pie Ornāna, Ornāns paskatījās, ieraudzīja Dāvidu un nāca Dāvidam pretī pa klonu, klanīdamies līdz zemei. 22 Dāvids sacīja Ornānam: “Dod man klona vietu, lai varu tur uzcelt Kungam altāri. Dod man to par pilnu maksu, lai no tautas atstājas mēris.” 23 Ornāns teica Dāvidam: “Ņem un dari, kungs, ķēniņ, kā tev šķiet labi. Redzi, šo vērsi es dodu par sadedzināmo upuri, kuļamos ratus malkai un kviešus labības dāvanai – es dodu visu!” 24 Bet ķēniņš Dāvids teica Ornānam: “Nē! Es visu pirkšu par pilnu maksu, jo Kungam es nepienesīšu to, kas ir tavs, nedz arī sadedzināmo upuri, kas ir par velti!” 25 Dāvids Ornānam samaksāja seši simti šekeļu zelta. 26 Dāvids uzcēla Kungam altāri un pienesa sadedzināmo upuri un miera upuri. Viņš piesauca Kungu, un viņš tam no debesīm atbildēja ar uguni pār sadedzināmā upura altāri.
27 Tad Kungs pavēlēja eņģelim, un tas atlika savu zobenu makstī. 28 Kad Dāvids redzēja, ka Kungs viņam atbildējis uz jebūsieša Ornāna klona, viņš sāka tur upurēt. 29 Kunga telts, ko Mozus bija taisījis tuksnesī, un sadedzināmo upuru altāris tolaik atradās Gibeonas augstienē. 30 Bet Dāvids nespēja iet tur lūgt Dievu, jo baidījās no Kunga eņģeļa zobena.
