2 Samuel 24:1-9

David Enrolls the Fighting Men

1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”

2 So the king said to Joab and the army commanders^[a] with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”

3 But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”

4 The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.

5 After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer.

6 They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon.

7 Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.

8 After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

2 Samuel 24:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, 2Sa 24:1-9; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, 2Sa 24:10-13; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, 2Sa 24:14-17; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, 2Sa 24:18-25.

Cross References

• 1. S Joshua 9:15
• 2. Job 1:6; Zechariah 3:1
• 3. S Exodus 30:12; 1 Chronicles 27:23
• 4. S 2 Samuel 20:23
• 5. Judges 20:1; S 2 Samuel 3:10
• 6. 2 Chronicles 2:17; 2 Chronicles 17:14; 2 Chronicles 25:5
• 7. S 2 Samuel 2:18
• 8. S Deuteronomy 1:11
• 9. Deuteronomy 2:36; S Joshua 13:9
• 10. S Numbers 21:32
• 11. S Genesis 10:19; Joshua 19:28; Judges 1:31
• 12. S Joshua 19:29
• 13. S Exodus 3:8
• 14. Genesis 21:31; Genesis 21:22-33
• 15. S Deuteronomy 1:7; Joshua 11:3
• 16. S Numbers 1:44-46; 1 Chronicles 21:5

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint (see also verse 4 and 1 Chron. 21:2); Hebrew "Joab the army commander"