1Satan ønskede at bringe Israels folk i ulykke, så han gav David den tanke at foretage en optælling af Israels samlede hærstyrke.2David sagde derfor til Joab og de øvrige officerer: „Rejs rundt blandt alle Israels stammer fra Dan i nord til Be’ersheba i syd og optæl alle de våbenføre mænd. Kom så tilbage og fortæl mig, hvor mange jeg råder over.”3Men Joab svarede: „Gud give, at din hær må vokse til 100 gange af, hvad den er nu. Min herre og konge, er de ikke alle loyale over for dig? Hvorfor vil du begå denne synd? Hvorfor bringe ulykke over Israels folk?”4Imidlertid sejrede kongens ord over Joabs protester, så Joab rejste landet rundt for at foretage optællingen. Da han vendte tilbage til Jerusalem,5meddelte han David det samlede tal på landets våbenføre mænd: I hele Israel var der 1.100.000 mand, heraf 470.000 i Juda.6Joab havde dog undladt at foretage optælling i Levis og Benjamins stammeområde, for han var meget ilde til mode over kongens befaling.7Gud var også vred over optællingen. Derfor ville han straffe Israel.8Da sagde David til Gud: „Jeg har begået en stor synd! Det var tåbeligt af mig at gøre sådan noget. Tilgiv mig!”9Så sagde Herren til profeten Gad, som var i Davids tjeneste:10„Gå hen og sig til David: Jeg, Herren, giver dig tre muligheder for straf, og du må selv vælge, hvilken en af dem det skal være.”11Gad gik derefter hen til David og forelagde ham de tre muligheder:12„Vælger du tre år med hungersnød? Eller tre måneder på flugt for dine fjender? Eller tre dage, hvor Herrens engel sender pest over hele Israels land? Sig mig, hvad jeg skal svare Herren, som har sendt mig!”13„Det er et frygteligt valg,” sukkede David. „Men det er bedre at være prisgivet Herren, for hans nåde er stor. Lad mig ikke være prisgivet mennesker.”14Da sendte Herren pest over hele Israel, og 70.000 mænd døde.15Da dødsenglen skulle til at ramme Jerusalem, blev Herren bedrøvet over den store ulykke, der var ved at ske. „Stop!” sagde han til englen. „Nu kan det være nok!” Englen stod da ved jebusitten Ornans tærskeplads.16Da David så Herrens engel stå stille i luften med sit sværd rettet mod Jerusalem, kastede han og hans ledere sig på knæ med ansigtet mod jorden. De var alle klædt i sæk og aske.17„Det er mig, der har syndet ved at mønstre min hær,” sagde han. „Alle disse mennesker er som uskyldige får. Herre, min Gud, lad dog straffen ramme mig og min familie. Du må ikke tilintetgøre dit folk.”18Derpå sagde Herrens engel til Gad: „Sig til David, at han skal bygge et alter for Herren på jebusitten Ornans tærskeplads.”19David var lydig mod Herrens befaling og opsøgte Ornan, der var i færd med at tærske hvede. Da Ornan vendte sig om, fik han øje på englen, og hans fire sønner løb i skjul, mens han selv fortsatte med at tærske.21Kort efter opdagede Ornan kongen, der nærmede sig. Straks forlod han tærskepladsen, løb kong David i møde og kastede sig på knæ med ansigtet mod jorden foran ham.22David sagde til Ornan: „Lad mig købe tærskepladsen af dig til dens fulde pris, så jeg kan bygge Herren et alter og få pesten til at standse.”23„Tag den bare, min herre og konge, og gør med den, hvad du vil,” svarede Ornan. „Her, jeg giver dig mine okser til brændofferet, tærskeslæderne til offerbrænde og brug min hvede til afgrødeofferet. Jeg giver dig det hele!”24„Nej,” svarede kong David, „jeg vil betale dig den fulde pris. Jeg kan ikke tage, hvad der tilhører en anden, og ofre det til Herren. Jeg vil ikke bringe ofre, der ikke har kostet mig noget!”25Så betalte David Ornan 600 guldstykker for hele området,26hvorefter han byggede et alter for Herren og ofrede brændofre og takofre. Han bad Herren om nåde, og Herren svarede ved at sende ild fra himlen, som fortærede ofrene på alteret.27Herren befalede derefter englen at stikke sværdet i skeden.28David fortsatte nu med at ofre til Herren på jebusitten Ornans tærskeplads, fordi Herren dér havde svaret på hans bøn.29Herrens telt og brændofferalteret, som Moses havde lavet i ørkenen, stod stadig på højen ved Gibeon.30Men David turde ikke tage derhen for at søge Herren, for han var bange for Herrens engels sværd.
English Standard Version
David’s Census Brings Pestilence
1Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.2So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me a report, that I may know their number.”3But Joab said, “May the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord’s servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?”4But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came back to Jerusalem.5And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah 470,000 who drew the sword.6But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.7But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel.8And David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”9And the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,10“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”11So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Choose what you will:12either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”13Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”14So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell.15And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.16And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.17And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”
David Builds an Altar
18Now the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.19So David went up at Gad’s word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord.20Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.21As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground.22And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.”23Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.”24But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”25So David paid Ornan 600 shekels* of gold by weight for the site.26And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord* answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.27Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.28At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.29For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon,30but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
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