1 Then Satan {satan: adversary and accuser} stood up against Israel {yisrael: chosen people} and incited David to count Israel.
2 And David said to Joab {Yoav: army chief} and to the commanders of the people, “Go, count {sifru: numerically enumerate} Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring it to me so that I may know their number.”
3 And Joab said, “May the LORD {YHWH, Multiplier of Blessings} add to His people a hundredfold. My lord the king, are they not all servants to my lord? Why does my lord seek this? Why should it become guilt {ashmah: moral offense} for Israel?”
4 However, the king’s word {devar: binding decree} prevailed over Joab, and Joab went out and went about {wayyithalekh: sustained rounds} through all Israel, and he came to Jerusalem.
5 And Joab gave the number {mispar: totaled count} of the census of the people to David, and all Israel was 1,100,000 men drawing the sword, and Judah {yehudah: southern tribe} was 470,000 men drawing the sword.
6 But Levi and Benjamin were not counted {paqad: numbered, registered} among them, because the king’s command was loathsome {nit’av: abhorred, morally repugnant} to Joab.
7 And it was evil in the eyes of God {ha-Elohim, Righteous Judge} because of this matter {davar: specific affair}, and He struck Israel.
8 And David said to God {ha-Elohim, Righteous Judge}, “I have sinned greatly by doing this thing. And now, please remove the guilt {avon: moral blame} of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 And the LORD {YHWH, Revealing LORD} spoke to Gad, David’s seer {chozeh: royal prophet}, saying:
10 Go and speak to David, saying, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Decider}: ‘Three judgments I am stretching out over you; choose for yourself one {achat: single option} of these, and I will execute it for you.’”
11 Then Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD {YHWH, Judgment Giver}: ‘Choose {qabbel: accept an option} for yourself.’”
12 If three years of famine, or if three months of devastation before your adversaries with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or if three days of the sword of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} and pestilence in the land with the angel of the LORD destroying across all the borders of Israel—now see what answer I shall return as a message {davar: authoritative command} to the one who sent me.
13 And David said to Gad, “I am greatly distressed{tsar-li: tight crisis}; please let me fall into the hand of the LORD {YHWH, Abounding In Mercy}, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
14 And the LORD {YHWH, Judge of Israel} sent a plague {dever: devastating disease} in Israel, and seventy thousand men fell from Israel.
15 And God {Elohim, Righteous Judge} sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he was destroying, the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Rescuer} saw and relented concerning the calamity {ra’ah: disaster}, and He said to the destroyer, “Enough {heref: cease action}! Now hold back your hand.” Then the angel of the LORD stood at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel {malach: Divine Messenger} of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge} standing between the earth and the heavens with his sword drawn in his hand and stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
17 And David said to God {Elohim, Righteous Judge}, “Was it not I who commanded the numbering of the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned {chatati: moral failure} and acted wickedly. And these, the flock—what have they done? LORD my God {YHWH Elohai, Covenant Defender}, let Your hand be upon me and upon my father’s house, but not upon Your people for a plague.”
18 And the angel of the LORD {YHWH, Worship Commander} said to Gad, to say to David, that David should go up and raise an altar {mizbeakh: offering place} to the LORD in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 So David went up by the word {davar: authoritative command} of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Instructor}.
20 And Ornan turned back and saw the angel {malach: heavenly messenger}, and his four sons with him were hiding themselves; and Ornan was threshing wheat {chittim: harvest grain}.
21 And David came up to Ornan, and Ornan looked {vayabet: intense gaze} and saw David, and he went out from the threshing floor and bowed down to David with his face {appayim: prostration posture} to the ground.
22 And David said to Ornan, “Give me the place of the threshing floor, so that I may build an altar there to the LORD {YHWH, Worship Recipient}. Give it to me for the full price in silver {kesef: standard monetary medium}, so that the plague may be restrained from upon the people.”
23 And Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord {adoni: courtly honorific} the king do what is good in his eyes. See, I have given the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges {moriggim: grain separators} for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I have given it all.”
24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, rather I will buy it for the full price with silver; for I will not offer what is yours to the LORD {YHWH, Worship Receiver}, nor offer up a burnt offering {olah: whole burnt sacrifice} for nothing.”
25 And David {David: Beloved Ruler} gave Ornan {Ornan: Threshing-Floor Owner} for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
26 And there David built an altar to the LORD {YHWH, Divine Responder} and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called to the LORD, and He answered him with fire from the heavens upon the altar of burnt offering {ha’olah: ascent sacrifice}.
27 And the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Commander} said to the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath {nedanah: protective covering}.
28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD {YHWH, Prayer Answerer} had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite {yevusi: native of Jebus}, he offered sacrifices there.
29 And the tabernacle of the LORD {YHWH, Worship Dwelling} which Moses {Mosheh: Covenant Leader} had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time at the high place in Gibeon.
30 But David was not able to go before it to inquire of God {Elohim, Divine Guide}, because he was terrified {nivate: seized with dread} by the sword of the angel {malakh: Judgment Envoy} of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Punisher}.