2 Samuel24

The chapter recounts David's sin in numbering Israel, which kindled the LORD's anger. As a consequence, David was given a choice of three judgments, and he chose a three-day pestilence, which killed seventy thousand men. The plague ceased when David, at the LORD's command through Gad, built an altar and offered sacrifices on Araunah's threshingfloor, thereby entreating the LORD for the land.

David Orders a Census

1
Again the LORD’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” ​
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 number the people, that I may know the sum of the people.” ​
3
Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD 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?” ​
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 number the people of Israel.
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:
6
then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon,
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.
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.
9
Joab gave up the sum of the numbering 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.

David Repents and Chooses Punishment

10
David’s heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, the LORD, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” ​
11
When David rose up in the morning, the LORD’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
12
“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’”
13
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “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.” ​
14
David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man.” ​
15
So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. ​
16
When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now stay your hand.” the LORD’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ​
17
David spoke to the LORD 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.” ​

The Altar at Araunah's Threshing Floor

18
Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ​
19
David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the LORD commanded.
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.
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 the LORD, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”
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 instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:
23
all this, king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” ​
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 the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ​
25
David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. ​

Study Notes for 2 Samuel 24

Verse 1

The chapter opens by noting God’s anger, which allowed or incited David’s action. While 1 Chronicles 21:1 attributes the instigation to Satan, 2 Samuel uses theological language, indicating that God permitted the action as judgment for Israel’s prior sins.

Verse 2

The census was likely intended to assess military strength for conscription and taxation, reflecting David's growing reliance on human power rather than covenant trust in God’s provision.

Verse 3

Joab, often ruthless, recognizes the census as a sin of hubris. He objects because the action implies lack of faith in God’s promise to multiply Israel without limit, a fundamental covenant blessing.

Verse 10

David’s immediate conviction (his 'heart smote him') demonstrates genuine repentance. He realizes that relying on human strength is foolish and undermines the spiritual foundation of his kingdom.

Verse 13

The three options (famine, flight before enemies, pestilence) reflect standard covenant curses. The severity of the choice underlines the gravity of the king's sin, which brought corporate judgment upon the nation.

Verse 14

David chooses the pestilence because it places him directly under the hand of God, affirming his belief that God’s judgment is tempered by great mercy, unlike the cruelty of human adversaries.

Verse 15

The death toll of seventy thousand men emphasizes the severity of the corporate judgment. The consequences of the king's actions directly impacted the entire population.

Verse 16

The phrase 'the LORD repented him of the evil' is anthropomorphic, meaning God relented or ceased the destruction. This divine interruption established the exact location—Araunah's threshing floor—as the future site of the Temple.

Verse 17

David’s intercession shows true shepherding leadership. He accepts full guilt ('I have sinned') and pleads for the innocent people ('these sheep'), offering himself and his household as substitutes for the nation.

Verse 18

The immediate command to build an altar signifies that atonement must be made at the precise spot where judgment was stayed. This location is later identified as Mount Moriah, the site of Solomon’s Temple (2 Chron 3:1).

Verse 23

Araunah, a Jebusite, offers the land and sacrifices freely. This generosity highlights the integration of non-Israelites into the kingdom and their piety toward Yahweh.

Verse 24

David establishes a crucial theological principle: true sacrifice must cost the worshiper something of value. Offerings made without personal sacrifice are inadequate for atonement.

Verse 25

The building of the altar and the offering of sacrifices successfully placate God, staying the plague. This concluding act serves as the foundational epilogue to 2 Samuel, linking David's reign to the establishment of the central place of worship.

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