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b'2 Samuel 24 (ESV)
\\n24\\xa0Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, \\u201cGo, number Israel and Judah.\\u201d 2\\xa0So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, \\u201cGo through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.\\u201d 3\\xa0But Joab said to the king, \\u201cMay the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?\\u201d 4\\xa0But the king\\u2019s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. 5\\xa0They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. 6\\xa0Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, 7\\xa0and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. 8\\xa0So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9\\xa0And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.
\\n10\\xa0But David\\u2019s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, \\u201cI have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.\\u201d 11\\xa0And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David\\u2019s seer, saying, 12\\xa0\\u201cGo and say to David, \\u2018Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.\\u2019\\xa0\\u201d 13\\xa0So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, \\u201cShall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days\\u2019 pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.\\u201d 14\\xa0Then David said to Gad, \\u201cI am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.\\u201d
\\n15\\xa0So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16\\xa0And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, \\u201cIt is enough; now stay your hand.\\u201d And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17\\xa0Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, \\u201cBehold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father\\u2019s house.\\u201d
\\n18\\xa0And Gad came that day to David and said to him, \\u201cGo up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.\\u201d 19\\xa0So David went up at Gad\\u2019s word, as the Lord commanded. 20\\xa0And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21\\xa0And Araunah said, \\u201cWhy has my lord the king come to his servant?\\u201d David said, \\u201cTo buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.\\u201d 22\\xa0Then Araunah said to David, \\u201cLet my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23\\xa0All this, O king,'