English Bible Presentation Sharing - 1-Chronicles Book, chapter 21, verse 76 in Erven Version

1 Chronicles 21 : 1 (ERVEN)

Satan was against the Israelites. He encouraged David to count the Israelites.

1 Chronicles 21 : 2 (ERVEN)

So David said to Joab and the leaders of the people, "Go and count all the Israelites. Count everyone in the country� from the town of Beersheba all the way to the town of Dan. Then tell me, so I will know how many people there are."

1 Chronicles 21 : 3 (ERVEN)

But Joab answered, "May the Lord make his nation 100 times as large! Sir, all the Israelites are your servants. Why do you want to do this thing, my lord and king? You will make all the Israelites guilty of sin!"

1 Chronicles 21 : 4 (ERVEN)

But King David was stubborn. Joab had to do what the king said. So Joab left and went through all the country of Israel counting the people. Then he came back to Jerusalem

1 Chronicles 21 : 5 (ERVEN)

and told David how many people there were. In Israel there were 1,100,000 men who could use a sword. And there were 470,000 men in Judah who could use a sword.

1 Chronicles 21 : 6 (ERVEN)

Joab did not count the tribes of Levi and Benjamin because he did not like King David's order.

1 Chronicles 21 : 7 (ERVEN)

David had done a bad thing in God's sight, so God punished Israel.

1 Chronicles 21 : 8 (ERVEN)

Then David said to God, "I have done something very foolish. I have done a very bad sin by counting the Israelites. Now, I beg you to take the sin away from me, your servant."

1 Chronicles 21 : 9 (ERVEN)

Gad was David's seer. The Lord said to Gad, "Go and tell David: 'This is what the Lord says: I am going to give you three choices. You must choose one of them. Then I will punish you the way you choose.'"

1 Chronicles 21 : 10 (ERVEN)

1 Chronicles 21 : 11 (ERVEN)

Then Gad went to David. He said to David, "The Lord says, 'David, choose which punishment you want: three years without enough food, or three months of running away from your enemies while they use their swords to chase you, or three days of punishment from the Lord. Terrible sicknesses will spread through the country, and the Lord's angel will go through Israel destroying the people.' David, God sent me. Now, you must decide which answer I will give to him."

1 Chronicles 21 : 12 (ERVEN)

1 Chronicles 21 : 13 (ERVEN)

David said to Gad, "I am in trouble! I don't want some man to decide my punishment. The Lord is very merciful, so let the Lord decide how to punish me."

1 Chronicles 21 : 14 (ERVEN)

So the Lord sent terrible sicknesses to Israel, and 70,000 people died.

1 Chronicles 21 : 15 (ERVEN)

God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But when the angel started to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord saw it and felt sorry. So the Lord decided not to destroy Jerusalem. The Lord said to the angel who was destroying, "Stop! That is enough!" The angel of the Lord was standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

1 Chronicles 21 : 16 (ERVEN)

David looked up and saw the Lord's angel in the sky. The angel was holding his sword over the city of Jerusalem. Then David and the elders bowed with their faces touching the ground. They were wearing the special clothes to show their sadness.

1 Chronicles 21 : 17 (ERVEN)

David said to God, "I am the one who sinned. I gave the order for the people to be counted! I was wrong. The Israelites did not do anything wrong. Lord my God, punish me and my family, but stop the terrible sicknesses that are killing your people."

1 Chronicles 21 : 18 (ERVEN)

Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Gad. He said, "Tell David to build an altar to worship the Lord. David must build that altar near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

1 Chronicles 21 : 19 (ERVEN)

Gad told David this, and David went to Araunah's threshing floor.

1 Chronicles 21 : 20 (ERVEN)

Araunah was threshing the wheat. Araunah turned around and saw the angel. Araunah's four sons ran away to hide.

1 Chronicles 21 : 21 (ERVEN)

David walked up the hill to Araunah. Araunah saw him and left the threshing floor. He walked to David and bowed with his face to the ground in front of him.

1 Chronicles 21 : 22 (ERVEN)

David said to Araunah, "Sell me your threshing floor. I will pay you the full price. Then I can use the area to build an altar to worship the Lord. Then the terrible sicknesses will be stopped."

1 Chronicles 21 : 23 (ERVEN)

Araunah said to David, "Take this threshing floor. You are my Lord and king. Do anything you want. Look, I will also give you cattle for the burnt offering. And you can have the wooden threshing tools to burn for the fire on the altar. And I will give the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this to you."

1 Chronicles 21 : 24 (ERVEN)

But King David answered Araunah, "No, I will pay you the full price. I will not take anything that is yours and give it to the Lord. I will not give offerings that cost me nothing."

1 Chronicles 21 : 25 (ERVEN)

So David gave Araunah about 15 pounds of gold for the place.

1 Chronicles 21 : 26 (ERVEN)

David built an altar for worshiping the Lord there. David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He prayed to the Lord. The Lord answered David by sending fire down from heaven. The fire came down on the altar of burnt offering.

1 Chronicles 21 : 27 (ERVEN)

Then the Lord commanded the angel to put his sword back into its sheath.

1 Chronicles 21 : 28 (ERVEN)

David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah, so David offered sacrifices to the Lord.

1 Chronicles 21 : 29 (ERVEN)

(The Holy Tent and the altar of burnt offerings were at the high place in the town of Gibeon. Moses had made the Holy Tent while the Israelites were in the desert.

1 Chronicles 21 : 30 (ERVEN)

David could not go to the Holy Tent to speak with God because he was afraid. He was afraid of the angel of the Lord and his sword.)