The First Book of the Chronicles 21

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² And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people Go number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan and bring the number of them to me that I may know it ⚑

³ And Joab answered The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be but my lord the king are they not all my lord’s servants why then doth my lord require this thing why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel ⚑

⁴ Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab Wherefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem ⚑

⁷ And God was displeased with this thing therefore he smote Israel ⚑

⁸ And David said unto God I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing but now I beseech thee do away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly ⚑

¹⁰ Go and tell David saying Thus saith the LORD I offer thee three things choose thee one of them that I may do it unto thee ⚑

¹¹ So Gad came to David and said unto him Thus saith the LORD Choose thee ⚑

¹² Either three years’ famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee or else three days the sword of the LORD even the pestilence in the land and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me ⚑

¹³ And David said unto Gad I am in a great strait let me fall now into the hand of the LORD for very great are his mercies but let me not fall into the hand of man ⚑

¹⁵ And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it and as he was destroying the LORD beheld and he repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed It is enough stay now thine hand And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite ⚑

¹⁶ And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem Then David and the elders of Israel who were clothed in sackcloth fell upon their faces ⚑

¹⁷ And David said unto God Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed but as for these sheep what have they done let thine hand I pray thee O LORD my God be on me and on my ather’s house but not on thy people that they should be plagued ⚑

¹⁸ Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite ⚑

¹⁹ And David went up at the saying of Gad which he spake in the name of the LORD ⚑

²⁰ And Ornan turned back and saw the angel and his four sons with him hid themselves Now Ornan was threshing wheat ⚑

²¹ And as David came to Ornan Ornan looked and saw David and went out of the threshingfloor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground ⚑

²² Then David said to Ornan Grant me the place of this threshingfloor that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD thou shalt grant it me for the full price that the plague may be stayed from the people ⚑

²³ And Ornan said unto David Take it to thee and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes lo I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings and the threshing instruments for wood and the wheat for the meat offering I give it all ⚑

²⁴ And king David said to Ornan Nay but I will verily buy it for the full price for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD nor offer burnt offerings without cost ⚑

²⁶ And David built there an altar unto the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called upon the LORD and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering ⚑

²⁷ And the LORD commanded the angel and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof ⚑

²⁸ At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite then he sacrificed there ⚑

²⁹ For the tabernacle of the LORD which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of the burnt offering were at that season in the high place at Gibeon ⚑

³⁰ But David could not go before it to enquire of God for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD ⚑

King James Version (1769) with Apocrypha · Crosswire Bible Society / eBible.org (standard text of 1769) · Public Domain

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · public domain