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The Blue Letter Bible

2 Samuel 24 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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David Takes a Census
(1Ch 21:1–6 )

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:1 - Once again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the LORD told him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:2 - So the king said to Joab and the commanders[fn] of the army, “Take a census of all the tribes of Israel—from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south—so I may know how many people there are.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:3 - But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God let you live to see a hundred times as many people as there are now! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:4 - But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out to count the people of Israel.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:5 - First they crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the town in the valley, in the direction of Gad. Then they went on to Jazer,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:6 - then to Gilead in the land of Tahtim-hodshi[fn] and to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:7 - Then they came to the fortress of Tyre, and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went south to Judah[fn] as far as Beersheba.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:8 - Having gone through the entire land for nine months and twenty days, they returned to Jerusalem.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:9 - Joab reported the number of people to the king. There were 800,000 capable warriors in Israel who could handle a sword, and 500,000 in Judah.
Judgment for David’s Sin
(1Ch 21:7–17 )

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:10 - But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, LORD, for doing this foolish thing.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:11 - The next morning the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message:

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:12 - “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:13 - So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three[fn] years of famine throughout your land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of severe plague throughout your land? Think this over and decide what answer I should give the LORD who sent me.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:14 - “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:15 - So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days.[fn] A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:16 - But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:17 - When David saw the angel, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.”
David Builds an Altar
(1Ch 21:18–27 )

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:18 - That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:19 - So David went up to do what the LORD had commanded him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:20 - When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:21 - “Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked.
David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the LORD there, so that he will stop the plague.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:22

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:22 - “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:23

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:23 - I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the LORD your God accept your sacrifice.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:24

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:24 - But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the LORD my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver[fn] for the threshing floor and the oxen.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Sa 24:25

Unchecked Copy Box2Sa 24:25 - David built an altar there to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the LORD answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
As in Greek version (see also 24:4 and 1 Chr 21:2); Hebrew reads Joab the commander.
Greek version reads to Gilead and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites.
Or they went to the Negev of Judah.
As in Greek version (see also 1 Chr 21:12); Hebrew reads seven.
Hebrew for the designated time.
Hebrew 50 shekels of silver, about 20 ounces or 570 grams in weight.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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2 Samuel Chapter 24 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras