1 Então se levantou Satanás contra Israel, e incitou a Davi a fazer resenha de Israel.

2 Disse Davi a Joabe e aos príncipes do povo: Ide e contai a Israel desde Berseba até Dã; e trazei-me a conta, para que eu saiba o número.

3 Respondeu Joabe: Multiplique Jeová o seu povo cem vezes mais do que ele é: porém, ó rei meu senhor, não são todos eles servos do meu senhor? por que requer isso o meu senhor? por que será ele ocasião de culpa a Israel?

4 Todavia a palavra do rei prevaleceu contra Joabe. Pelo que partiu Joabe e passou por todo o Israel, e voltou para Jerusalém.

5 Joabe deu a Davi a soma da resenha do povo. Era todo o Israel um milhão e cem mil homens que usavam de espada; e Judá era quatrocentos e setenta mil homens que usavam de espada.

6 Mas entre eles não contou Joabe a Levi nem a Benjamim, porque a palavra do rei era abominável a Joabe.

7 Isso desagradou a Deus, que feriu a Israel.

8 Então disse Davi a Deus: Cometi um grande pecado em fazer isso; porém, agora, digna-te perdoar a iniqüidade do teu servo, porque procedi mui loucamente.

9 Falou Jeová a Gade, vidente de Davi:

10 Vai e fala a Davi: Assim diz Jeová: Três coisas te proponho: Escolhe uma, para que eu ta faça.

11 Veio Gade a Davi e disse: Assim diz Jeová: Escolhe o que quiseres:

12 ou três anos de fome; ou seres por três meses consumido diante dos teus adversários, enquanto a espada dos teus inimigos te alcança; ou senão a espada de Jeová por três dias, a saber, a peste na terra, e o anjo de Jeová fazendo estragos em todos os termos de Israel. Considera agora que resposta hei de dar a quem me enviou.

13 Respondeu Davi a Gade: Acho-me em grande aperto; caia eu nas mãos de Jeová (porque mui grandes são as suas misericórdias); e não caia nas mãos dos homens.

14 Mandou Jeová a peste a Israel; e morreram de Israel setenta mil homens.

15 Enviou Deus um anjo a Jerusalém para a destruir; estando o anjo prestes a destruir, olhou Jeová e arrependeu-se do mal, e disse ao anjo destruidor: Basta: cesse já a tua mão. O anjo de Jeová estava junto à eira de Ornã, jebuseu.

16 Levantando Davi os olhos, viu ao anjo de Jeová que estava entre a terra e o céu, tendo uma espada desembainhada na mão estendida sobre Jerusalém. Então Davi e os anciãos, cobertos de cilício, se prostraram com os rostos em terra.

17 Disse Davi a Deus: Não sou eu quem mandou contar o povo? sou eu o que pequei e procedi malissamente; mas estas ovelhas, que fizeram? Seja Jeová meu Deus a tua mão contra mim e contra a casa de meu pai; porém não seja contra o teu povo para castigá-lo com peste.

18 Então o anjo de Jeová ordenou a Gade que dissesse a Davi para subir e levantar um altar a Jeová na eira de Ornã, jebuseu.

19 Subiu Davi conforme a palavra que Gade falou em nome de Jeová.

20 Virando-se Ornã, viu ao anjo; e esconderam-se seus quatro filhos que estavam com ele. Ora, Ornã estava debulhando trigo.

21 Quando Davi se vinha chegando a Ornã, este olhou e o viu e, saindo da eira, prostrou-se perante ele com o rosto em terra.

22 Então Davi disse a Ornã: Dá-me o lugar desta eira, para eu edificar um altar a Jeová (pelo seu valor mo darás), a fim de que cesse a praga de cima do povo.

23 Respondeu Ornã a Davi: Toma-o, e faça o rei meu senhor o que for do seu agrado. Eis que te dou os bois para holocaustos, os instrumentos de trilhar para lenha e o trigo para a oferta de cereais; dou tudo.

24 Disse o rei Davi a Ornã: Não, antes pelo seu valor quero comprá-lo, porque não tomarei o que é teu para Jeová, nem oferecerei um holocausto que não me custou nada.

25 Davi deu a Ornã pelo lugar o peso de seiscentos siclos de ouro.

26 Edificou ali um altar a Jeová, ofereceu holocaustos e ofertas pacíficas e invocou a Jeová, que lhe respondeu do céu, mandando fogo sobre o altar do holocausto.

27 Jeová deu ordem ao anjo, que tornou a meter a sua espada na bainha.

28 Nesse tempo vendo Davi que Jeová lhe tinha respondido na eira de Ornã jebuseu, ofereceu ali sacrifícios.

29 Pois o tabernáculo de Jeová, que Moisés tinha feito no deserto, e o altar do holocausto, estavam naquele tempo no alto em Gibeom.

30 Mas Davi não podia ir perante ele para indagar de Deus, porque estava atemorizado por causa da espada do anjo de Jeová.

1 Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel. 2 David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, "Go, count Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know how many there are."

3 Joab said, "May Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?"

4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, then came to Jerusalem. 5 Joab gave the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword. 6 But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.

7 God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel. 8 David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly."

9 Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 "Go and speak to David, saying, ‘Yahweh says, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."’"

11 So Gad came to David and said to him, "Yahweh says, ‘Take your choice: 12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days of the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and Yahweh’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’"

13 David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into Yahweh’s hand, for his mercies are very great. Don’t let me fall into man’s hand."

14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15 God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, "It is enough. Now withdraw your hand." Yahweh’s angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 David lifted up his eyes, and saw Yahweh’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.

Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 David said to God, "Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be counted? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me and against my father’s house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued."

18 Then Yahweh’s angel commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up and raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in Yahweh’s name.

20 Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. 21 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.

22 Then David said to Ornan, "Sell me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to Yahweh on it. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people."

23 Ornan said to David, "Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all."

24 King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for Yahweh, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing."

25 So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

27 Then Yahweh commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 29 For Yahweh’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of Yahweh’s angel.