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1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

3 And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

4 Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5 And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:

6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,

7 And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.

8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.

24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

<html><b>Adonoy's anger was again kindled against Yisroel.</b> I do not know what it was [they did]. <b>He enticed.</b> Stirred him up.</html>

<html><b>Their [current] number.</b> [Yoav meant with] the word <span>כׇּהֵם</span> to convey that their amount should double and the second word <span>וְכָהֵם</span>, to convey a second doubling to have now a total of four times [the original population] and then to again double the [new] total for one hundred times.¹<i class=“footnote”>For a total of two hundred times the current population.</i> It follows that Yoav's blessing was more then Moshe's who said, “One thousand times you [current] number”.²<i class=“footnote”>Devorim 1:11.</i> Furthermore, Moshe's blessing was only [to take effect] a long time [into the future] but Yoav's was intended [to take effect] immediately as it says [here], “[With] my master, the king's eyes [being able to] see it.”</html>

<html><b>[The valley of] Gad unto Yazer.</b> He [Yoav] started with the people of Gad because they were hardened warriors. He reasoned, “If only they fight me and stop me”.³<i class=“footnote”>From taking this census.</i></html>

<html><b>And to a land of a new [settlement].</b> A place where there was a new settlement whose population was small; perhaps in the interim Dovid would reconsider and sent him a messenger to stop. <b>To Don's portion.</b> To the people of Don. <b>Ya'an.</b> The name of the place.</html>

<html><b>The sum of the people's census.</b> If there was a counting, why was a [second] counting [needed]?⁴<i class=“footnote”>The verse uses two different words but they both mean “counting.”</i> He [Yoav] made two countings, one major one and one smaller one. He reasoned, “I will show him [Dovid] the smaller one and if he gets angry, I will show him the larger one.” That is why the verse uses the word <span>מִפְקָד</span> which conveys [that something is] missing. This is how [the verse] is interpreted in the Pesikta. <b>Yisroel's [total] was.</b> They became enfeebled like a woman.⁵<i class=“footnote”><span>וַתִּהִי</span> is the feminine conjugation.</i> <b>Eight hundred thousand.</b> But in Divrei Hayomim⁶<i class=“footnote”>Divrei Hayomim I, 21:5.</i> it says, “One million and one hundred thousand”? In the Aggadah of the Amoroyim⁷<i class=“footnote”>Pesikta Raba 11.</i> we find, Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Levi said The verses fill in in one place what is missing in another place; there are two tribes which were not counted⁸<i class=“footnote”>And they account for the difference.</i> because this is what is written in Divrei Hayomim,⁹<i class=“footnote”>Ibid 21:6.</i> “Levi and Binyomin were not counted among them because the king's command was abhorrent to Yoav.” Yoav said, With these [tribes] I can escape [from my commitment] and say [as an excuse] The tribe of Levi is not counted together with the rest of the tribes but [instead] is counted from one month old and up¹⁰<i class=“footnote”>Bamidbar 2:15.</i> [and as far as] Binyomin [is concerned] it is enough that [their ranks] were depleted by the incident of the concubine in the valley.¹¹<i class=“footnote”>The story is related in Shoftim beginning in chapter 19.</i> In the tract about the thirty-two rules [by which the Torah is elucidated] [authored] by Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Yosse the Galilite we learned [as follows], one verse says,¹²<i class=“footnote”>Divrei Hayomim I, 21:5.</i> “The [total of] all Yisroel was one million and one hundred thousand… and Yehudah [totaled] four hundred and seventy thousand.” Another verse says,¹³<i class=“footnote”>Our verse here.</i> “Yisroel's [total] was eight hundred thousand… and the men of Yehudah were five hundred thousand.” The difference between the two [accounts] is three hundred thousand.“ What happenned to them? A third verse redresses the imbalance, “The people of Yisroel by their number, of the heads of families and the officers in charge of thousands and of hundreds and their marshals serving the king in all matters pertaining to the division those entering [the service] and those leaving, for every month of the year, each division had twenty-four thousand men.” This teaches us that the [missing] three hundred thousand were [already] accounted for in the royal record and did not need to be counted [again].¹⁴<i class=“footnote”>The amount of Yisroel soldiers numbered in Divrei Hayomim is 1,100,000. Subtracting the 800,000 Yisroel soldiers numbered in our verse, we get 300,000.</i> How does this work?¹⁵<i class=“footnote”>How do we account for 300,000 using this verse that only mentions 24,000.</i> Twenty four thousand for [each of the] twelve [months] gives us two hundred and eighty-eight thousand this leaves us with twelve thousand [still unaccounted for] these are the leaders of Yisroel¹⁶<i class=“footnote”>The leaders were not included in the 24,000 officers and marshals mentioned in Divrei Hayomim I, 27:1.</i> themselves.¹⁷<i class=“footnote”>Our verse of 800,000 is the figure of those who needed to be counted. the verse in Divrei Hayomim I, 21:5 includes our 800,000 in addition to the 300,000 already accounted for.</i></html>

<html><b>I will afflict you with [one of] three [things].</b> One of three and so [we find], “With two [of my daughters] you will marry [into my family] today”,¹⁸<i class=“footnote”>Shmuel I, 18:21.</i> i.e., with one of two. “I will take three from you” is retribution for the three [curses] you put on Shaul, “Either Adonoy will smite him or his day will come and he will die or he will go down to battle and perish.”¹⁹<i class=“footnote”>Ibid, 26:10.</i></html>

<html><b>I am in great anguish.</b> The least of them is very difficult. <b>Let us fall into the hand of Adonoy.</b> I.e. Pestilence²⁰<i class=“footnote”>Controlled exclusively by God.</i> and not the sword nor famine because it [famine] is also controlled by the rich who have store houses of produce. Rabbi Alexandri said, Dovid reasoned, “If I choose the sword then [the people of] Yisroel will say [about me], 'he is relying on his strength to save himself from death but others will die', and if I choose famine they will say, He is relying on his wealth [to save himself]. I will choose pestilence against which everyone is equal.”²¹<i class=“footnote”>Midrash Tehilim 17:4.</i></html>

<html><b>From the morning until the appointed time.</b> [Yonoson translates:] “From the time of the slaughtering of the daily morning offering until its blood was sprinkled.”</html>

<html><b>The Yevusite.</b> He was the chief officer of the Zion fortress the name of which is Yevusi.²²<i class=“footnote”>Having formerly belonged to them, see earlier verses 5:6–5:9.</i></html>

<html><b>Aravnoh saw.</b> He was hiding from the angel, this is what is written in Divrei Hayomim.²³<i class=“footnote”>Divrei Hayomim I, 21:20.</i></html>

<html><b>The rake.</b> A wooden utensil full of jagged edges which is heavy and it is constantly applied to straw; it cuts it to become fodder to feed the animals:</html>

<html><b>Aravnoh the prince.</b> He was the chief officer of the Yevusi [fortress].²⁴<i class=“footnote”>See Rashi earlier on verse 16.</i></html>

<html><b>Fifty shekolim.</b> [But] in Divrei Hayomim²⁵<i class=“footnote”>Divrei Hayomim I, 21:25.</i> it says, “Golden Shekolim weighing six hundred,” how is this possible? [The answer is] he collected fifty silver shekolim from each tribe that is [a total of] six hundred²⁶<i class=“footnote”></i> and he gave him an amount of silver that had the value of [six hundred] gold [shekolim]. We also are taught this in the end of Zevochim,²⁷<i class=“footnote”></i> “He collected an amount of silver that had a value of six hundred gold shekolim, and we also learned this in the Sifri.²⁸<i class=“footnote”>Re’eh, 10.</i></html>