9So Joab gave the list of the census to the king; and it came to pass that the Israelites were eight hundred thousand mighty men, capable of war, and the Judahites five hundred thousand.

10David's heart trembled after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, "I have sinned grievously, having done this; and now I beseech Thee, O Lord, to forgive the sin of Thy servant, for I have acted exceedingly unwisely.

11When David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet, David's seer:

12Go and say to David, 'This is what the Lord says, 'I have set before you three chastisements; choose for yourself one of them, which would be done to you.

13Gad went to David and told him and said to him, "Choose for yourselves whether there will be famine in your country for seven years, or that you flee from your enemies for three months and they pursue you, or that there be a pestilence in your country for three days." now judge and decide what I should answer to Him who sent me.

14David said to Gad, "It is very hard for me; but let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great; if only I do not fall into the hands of men. [And David chose for himself a pestilence in the time of the wheat harvest.]

15And the Lord sent a plague upon the Israelites from the morning until the appointed time. And seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Bathsheba.

16And the angel stretched out his hand against Jerusalem to lay it desolate. but the Lord was sorry for the calamity, and said to the angel who smote the people, "Enough, now lower thy hand." And the angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Ornas the Jebusite.

17When David saw an angel smite the people, David said to the Lord, "Behold, I have sinned, I [the shepherd] have done wrong. And these sheep, what did they do? let thy hand be turned upon me, and upon my father's house.

18Gad came to David that day and said, "Go and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornah the Jebusite."

19And David went according to the word of Gad [the prophet], as the Lord had commanded.

20And Ornah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him, and Ornah went out and bowed down to the king with his face to the ground.

21Then Ornah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "Buy from you a threshing floor to build an altar to the Lord, so that the defeat of the people may cease."

22Then Ornah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and sacrifice whatever he pleases." These are the oxen for burnt offerings, and the wagons, and the harness of the oxen for the wood.