1A ira do SENHOR tornou a acender-se contra Israel e David foi levado a tomar uma decisão que trouxe uma desgraça para o povo: fazer um recenseamento de Israel e Judá.2O rei disse a Joabe, comandante do seu exército: “Faz o recenseamento geral de toda a população, desde Dan até Berseba, para que se saiba quantos são ao todo.”3Joabe replicou: “Que o SENHOR, teu Deus, permita que vivas o bastante para veres este povo multiplicado cem vezes neste reino! Que interesse tens tu nesse recenseamento?”4A vontade do rei prevaleceu contra a argumentação de Joabe. Este, acompanhado de outros oficiais do exército, começou a tarefa da contagem do povo de Israel.5Primeiramente atravessaram o Jordão e instalaram-se em Aroer, a sul da cidade que fica no meio do vale de Gad, junto de Jazer.6Depois foram para Gileade, na terra de Tatim-Hodchi, para Dan-Jaã e para os arredores de Sídon.7Seguidamente, deslocaram-se para a fortaleza de Tiro e para todas as cidades dos heveus e dos cananeus e depois para o sul de Judá até Berseba.8Passaram pela terra toda, tendo completado a sua missão em nove meses e vinte dias.9Joabe trouxe o número total do povo ao rei: eram 800 000 homens em idade de serviço militar em Israel e 500 000 em Judá.10Após ter mandado fazer o recenseamento, a consciência de David começou a acusá-lo e disse ao SENHOR: “Pequei gravemente ao fazer tal coisa. Peço-te que me perdoes, porque reconheço que agi loucamente.”11Na manhã seguinte, quando David se levantou, veio a palavra do SENHOR ao profeta Gad, vidente de David. O SENHOR disse a Gad:12“Vai dizer a David: O SENHOR propõe-te três coisas; escolhe a que preferes.”13Gad veio ter com David e perguntou-lhe: “Preferes sete anos de fome em toda a terra, ou fugir diante dos teus inimigos durante três meses, ou que haja três dias de praga na tua terra? Pensa nisto e depois dá-me uma resposta, para que a transmita a quem me enviou.”14“É uma decisão muito difícil”, respondeu David. “É melhor cair nas mãos do SENHOR, porque grande é a sua misericórdia, do que nas mãos dos homens.”15Então o SENHOR enviou uma praga sobre Israel naquela manhã, que durou três dias, e morreram 70 000 pessoas desde Dan, no norte, até Berseba, no sul.16Quando o anjo do SENHOR se preparava para estender a sua mão sobre Jerusalém para a destruir, por causa da grande compaixão que sentiu, o SENHOR ordenou ao anjo destruidor: “Para! Já basta!” O anjo do SENHOR estava sobre a eira de Arauna, o jebuseu.17Quando David viu o anjo, disse ao SENHOR: “SENHOR, eu sou o único culpado deste pecado! Estas ovelhas nada fizeram! Destrói-me a mim e à minha família.”
David constrói um altar
18Nesse dia, Gad foi ter com David e disse-lhe: “Sobe à eira de Arauna, o jebuseu, e constrói ali um altar ao SENHOR.”19David pôs-se logo a caminho, como o SENHOR lhe tinha ordenado por intermédio de Gad.20Quando Arauna viu o rei e os seus homens virem na sua direção, foi e inclinou-se com o rosto no chão perante o rei.21“Porque vieste aqui?”, perguntou Arauna. David respondeu: “Para te comprar a eira e construir ali um altar ao SENHOR, a fim de que cesse esta praga.”22Arauna disse-lhe: “Fica já com ela, meu senhor, e usa-a como bem entenderes. Estão aqui bois para o holocausto e podes usar o carro e os jugos dos bois como madeira para o fogo do altar.23Tudo te dou. Assim, o SENHOR Deus aceite o teu sacrifício.”24“Não”, disse David. “Quero comprar-ta pelo seu preço, pois não oferecerei ao SENHOR, meu Deus, holocaustos que nada me custem.” David pagou-lhe então 50 peças de prata pela eira e pelos bois;25Construiu ali um altar ao SENHOR e sacrificou holocaustos e ofertas de paz sobre ele. O SENHOR respondeu à sua oração e a praga cessou.
English Standard Version
David’s Census
1Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”2So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army,* who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.”3But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”4But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.5They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer,* and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer.6Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites;* and they came to Dan, and from Dan* they went around to Sidon,7and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.8So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.9And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.
The Lord’s Judgment of David’s Sin
10But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”11And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,12“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.’”13So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three* 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 consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”14Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”15So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.16And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.17Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”
David Builds an Altar
18And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”19So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded.20And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.21And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.”22Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.23All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.”24But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels* of silver.25And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
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