1 Tawarikh 21:11-16

21:11 Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these: 21:12 three ¹  years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords, ²  or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the Lord’s messenger will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’ ³  Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.” 21:13 David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!” ⁴  21:14 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

21:15 God sent an angel ⁵  to ravage ⁶  Jerusalem. As he was doing so, ⁷  the Lord watched ⁸  and relented from ⁹  his judgment. ¹⁰  He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough! ¹¹  Stop now!” ¹² 

Now the Lord’s angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan ¹³  the Jebusite. 21:16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. ¹⁴ 

1 Tawarikh 21:27-30

21:27 The Lord ordered the messenger ¹⁵  to put his sword back into its sheath.

21:28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord responded to him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 21:29 Now the Lord’s tabernacle (which Moses had made in the wilderness) and the altar for burnt sacrifices were at that time at the worship center ¹⁶  in Gibeon. 21:30 But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the Lord’s messenger.

[21:12]  ¹ tc The parallel text in the MT of 2 Sam 24:13 has “seven,” but LXX has “three” there.

[21:12]  ² tc Heb “or three months being swept away from before your enemies and the sword of your enemies overtaking.” The Hebrew term נִסְפֶּה (nisppeh, Niphal participle from סָפָה, safah) should probably be emended to נֻסְכָה (nusÿkhah, Qal infinitive from נוּס [nus] with second masculine singular suffix). See 2 Sam 24:13.

[21:12]  ³ tn Heb “or three days of the sword of the Lord and plague in the land, and the messenger [or “angel”] of the Lord destroying in all the territory of Israel.”

[21:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “There is great distress to me; let me fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercy is very great, but into the hand of men let me not fall.”

[21:15]  ⁵ tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 24:15 reports that God sent a plague, while 24:16-17 attributes this to the instrumentality of an angel.

[21:15]  ⁶ tn Or “destroy.”

[21:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “while he was destroying.”

[21:15]  ⁸ tn Or “saw.”

[21:15]  ⁹ tn Or “was grieved because of.”

[21:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

[21:15]  ¹¹ tn For this nuance of the Hebrew word רַב (rav), see BDB 913 s.v. 1.f.

[21:15]  ¹² tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

[21:15]  ¹³ tn In the parallel text in 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (’aravna’, “Aravna”), traditionally “Araunah.” The form of the name found here also occurs in vv. 18-28.

[21:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”

[21:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “spoke to the messenger.”

[21:29]  ¹⁶ tn Or “high place.”