2 Samuel 24

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Again, Yahweh's anger was aroused against Israel, and he incited David against them. 'Go,' he said,'take a census of Israel and Judah.'	1 And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda.
2 The king said to Joab and the senior army officers who were with him, 'Now, go through al the tribesof Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and take a census of the people; I wish to know the size of the population.'	2 And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them.
3 Joab said to the king, 'May Yahweh your God multiply the people a hundred times -- however manythere are -- while my lord the king stil has eyes to see it, but why should my lord the king be set on this?'	3 And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing?
4 The king nonetheless enforced his order on Joab and the senior officers, and Joab and the seniorofficers left the king's presence, to take a census of the people of Israel.	4 But the king's words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan and made a start with Aroer and the town in the middle of the valley, thenmoved on to the Gadites and to Jazer.	5 And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad.
6 They then went to Gilead and the territory of the Hittites, to Kadesh; they then went to Dan and fromDan cut across to Sidon.	6 And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon,
7 They then went to the fortress of Tyre and to al the towns of the Hittites and Canaanites ending up inthe Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.	7 They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee:
8 Having travel ed throughout the country, after nine months and twenty days they returned toJerusalem.	8 And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.
9 Joab gave the king the census results for the people; Israel had eight hundred thousand fighting menwho could wield a sword, and Judah five hundred thousand.	9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men.
10 But afterwards David's heart misgave him for having taken a census of the people. David then said toYahweh, 'I have committed a grave sin by doing this. But now, Yahweh, I beg you to forgive your servant for thisfault, for I have acted very foolishly.'	10 But David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered: and David said to the Lord: I have sinned very much in what I have done: but I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceeding foolishly.
11 When, however, David got up next morning, the fol owing message had come from Yahweh to theprophet Gad, David's seer,	11 And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying:
12 'Go and say to David, "Yahweh says this: I offer you three things; choose which one of them I am toinflict on you." '	12 Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee thy choice of three things, choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee.
13 So Gad went to David and said, 'Which do you prefer: to have three years of famine befal yourcountry; to flee for three months before a pursuing army; or to have three days of epidemic in your country? Nowthink, and decide how I am to answer him who sends me.'	13 And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee: or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land. Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
14 David said to Gad, 'I am very apprehensive . . . Better to fal into Yahweh's hands, since his merciesare great, than to fal into the hands of men!'	14 And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.
15 So David chose the epidemic. It was the time of the wheat harvest. So Yahweh unleashed anepidemic on Israel from that morning until the time determined; plague ravaged the people and, of the peoplefrom Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand died.	15 And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men.
16 But when the angel stretched his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh felt sorry about thecalamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, 'Enough now! Hold your hand!' The angel ofYahweh was standing by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.	16 And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel who was ravaging the people, he said to Yahweh, 'I was the one whosinned. I was the one who acted wrongly. But these, the flock, what have they done? Let your hand lie heavy onme and on my family!'	17 And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father's house.
18 Gad went to David that day and said, 'Go up and raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing-floor ofAraunah the Jebusite.'	18 And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.
19 So, at Gad's bidding, David went up, as Yahweh had ordered.	19 And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him.
20 When Araunah looked up and saw the king and his retinue advancing towards him-Araunah wasthreshing the wheat -- Araunah came forward and prostrated himself on the ground at the king's feet.	20 And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him:
21 'Why has my lord the king come to his servant?' Araunah asked. David replied, 'To buy the threshing-floor from you, to build an altar to Yahweh, so that the plague may be lifted from the people.'	21 An going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? Arid David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease.
22 Araunah said to David, 'Let my lord the king take it and make what offerings he thinks fit. Here arethe oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing-sleds and the oxen's yokes for the wood.	22 And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood.
23 My lord the king's servant wil give the king everything. And', Araunah said to the king, 'may Yahwehyour God accept what you offer!'	23 All these things Areuna as a king gave to the king: and Areuna said to the king: The Lord thy God receive thy vow.
24 'No,' said the king to Araunah, 'I shal give you a price for it; I will not offer Yahweh my God burntofferings which have cost me nothing.' David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.	24 And the king answered him, and said: Nay, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God holocausts free cost. So David bought the floor, and the oxen, for fifty sicles of silver:
25 David built an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and communion sacrifices. Yahweh thentook pity on the country and the plague was lifted from Israel.	25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.