¹⁰ Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians.

¹¹ The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and they put themselves in array against the children of Ammon.

¹² He said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

¹³ Be courageous, and let us be strong for our people, and for the cities of our God. May Yahweh do that which seems good to him."

¹⁴ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him.

¹⁵ When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians who were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head.

¹⁷ It was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came on them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.

¹⁸ The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians [the men of] seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the army.

¹⁹ When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David, and served him: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.

¹ It happened, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out [to battle], that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it.

² David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set on David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much.

³ He brought forth the people who were therein, and cut [them] with saws, and with iron picks, and with axes. David did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

⁴ It happened after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, of the sons of the giant; and they were subdued.

⁵ There was again war with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

⁶ There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were twenty-four, six [on each hand], and six [on each foot]; and he also was born to the giant.

⁷ When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother killed him.

⁸ These were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

¹ Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

² David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them."

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, and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew sword: and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew 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, 'Thus says Yahweh, "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, "Thus says Yahweh, '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 the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Yahweh 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 the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are very great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

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 stay your hand." The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁶ David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Yahweh 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 numbered? 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 the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up, and raise an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

¹⁹ David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh.

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, "Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build thereon an altar to Yahweh. 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 without cost."

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 Yahweh commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again 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 the tabernacle of Yahweh, 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 the angel of Yahweh.

¹ Then David said, "This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel."

² David gave orders to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut worked stones to build the house of God.

³ David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight;

⁴ and cedar trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David.

⁵ David said, "Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Yahweh must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it." So David prepared abundantly before his death.

⁶ Then he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel.

⁷ David said to Solomon his son, "As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of Yahweh my God.

⁸ But the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 'You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.

⁹ Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days.

¹⁰ He shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.'

¹¹ Now, my son, may Yahweh be with you and prosper you, and build the house of Yahweh your God, as he has spoken concerning you.

¹² May Yahweh give you discretion and understanding, and put you in charge of Israel; that so you may keep the law of Yahweh your God.

¹³ Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which Yahweh gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong, and courageous. Don't be afraid, neither be dismayed.

¹⁴ Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Yahweh one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone; and you may add to them.

¹⁵ There are also workmen with you in abundance, cutters and workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of men who are skillful in every kind of work:

¹⁶ of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and may Yahweh be with you."

¹⁷ David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying,

¹⁸ "Isn't Yahweh your God with you? Hasn't he given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Yahweh, and before his people.

¹⁹ Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Yahweh your God. Arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Yahweh."

¹ Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

² He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

³ The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.

⁴ David said, "Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Yahweh; six thousand were officers and judges;

⁵ four thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised Yahweh with the instruments which I made, for giving praise."

⁶ David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.

⁸ The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' [houses] of Ladan.

¹⁰ The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹ Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah didn't have many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning.