- And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go number Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. And Joab answered, The Lord make his people a hundred times so many more as they are, but my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab.
- Wherefore, Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and one hundred thousand men that drew sword, and Judah was four hundred seventy thousand men that drew sword; but Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
- And God was displeased with this thing, therefore he smote Israel. And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now I implore you, do away with the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.
- And the Lord spoke unto Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and tell David, saying, Thus says the Lord: I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it unto you. So Gad came to David and said unto him, Thus says the Lord: Choose either three years famine, or three months to be destroyed before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, 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 borders of Israel. Now therefore advise yourself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
- And David said unto Gad, I am in a very tight place. 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.
- So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And the angel stretched forth his hand unto Jerusalem to destroy it, and God said to the angel, Stop now your hand, it is enough; for as he was destroying, the Lord beheld Israel, that he repented of the evil; therefore, the Lord stopped the angel that destroyed, as he stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- 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. 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 your hand, I pray you, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father’s house, but not on your people that they should be plagued.
- 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 threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad which he spoke in the name of the Lord.
- Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and his four sons with him, and Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and they hid themselves. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord. You shall grant it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped among the people.
- And Ornan said unto David, Take it to you, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. See, I give you the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, Nay, but I will truly buy it for the full price; for I will not take that which is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.
- So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. 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. And the Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.
- At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there; 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. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
- Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel. And he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails, for the doors of the gates and for the joinings, and brass in abundance without weight; also cedar trees in abundance, for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.
- And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
- Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God; but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars. You shall not build a house unto my name because you have shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon. And I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. And he shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.
- Now, my son, the Lord be with you and prosper you, and build the house of the Lord your God as he has said of you. Only the Lord gives you wisdom and understanding, and gives you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then shall you prosper, if you take heed to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
- Now behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance. Timber also and stone have I prepared, and you may add unto it. Moreover, there are workmen with you in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of skilled men for every manner of work. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron there is no number. Arise therefore and be doing, and the Lord be with you.
- David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not given you rest on every side? For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise therefore and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.
Chapter 10