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2 Samuel 24: David Counts the People

David orders Joab to count the fighting men of Israel and Judah. Afterward David's heart strikes him, and he confesses that he has sinned. God offers three choices, and David chooses to fall into the Lord's hands because His mercies are great. A plague comes, but the Lord stops the angel at Araunah's threshing floor. David buys the place and builds an altar there, refusing to offer the Lord what costs him nothing.

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Read 2 Samuel 24

World English Bible · 25 verses

  1. 1 Again Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  2. 2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, “Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the sum of the people.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  3. 3 Joab said to the king, “Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  4. 4 Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  5. 5 They passed over the Jordan and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer;This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  6. 6 then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon,This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  7. 7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  8. 8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  9. 9 Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  10. 10 David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  11. 11 When David rose up in the morning, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  12. 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Yahweh says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  13. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, saying, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  14. 14 David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into Yahweh’s hand, for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man’s hand.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  15. 15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  16. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  17. 17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  18. 18 Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  19. 19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  20. 20 Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  21. 21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  22. 22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  23. 23 All this, O king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God accept you.”This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  24. 24 The king said to Araunah, “No, but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.
  25. 25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.This verse is not in this translation's source text (many modern translations omit it). See your Bible's footnote.

Scripture: World English Bible, public domain, eBible.org

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2 Samuel 24 · Preschool

God's Mercy Is Great

Name Date

Color the altar and the cows! David gave God a gift that cost him something.

Can you find these in the picture? Circle each one!

Bible Verse

David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into Yahweh’s hand, for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man’s hand.”

2 Samuel 24:14 (WEB)

Prayer

Thank You, God, for making me!

Take It Home

Read the verse aloud. Say: God's mercies are great. David trusted God's kindness even when he had done wrong.

Scripture: World English Bible, public domain, eBible.org. © 2026 The Daily Rooted. Free to print and copy for church and home use; not for resale. Original line art.

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