e sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord
the king by this kind of thing?

24:4. 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.

24:5. 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.

24:6. 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,

24:7. 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:

24:8. And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and
twenty days, they came to Jerusalem.

24:9. 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.

24:10. 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.

David's heart struck him, after the people were numbered... That is he
was touched with a great remorse for the vanity and pride which had put
him upon numbering the people.

24:11. And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to
Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying:

24:12. 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.

24:13. 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.

24:14. 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.

24:15. 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.

24:16. And when the angel of the Lord