2 Samuel 24:13

So Gad went to David and told him what Yahweh had said. He said to David, “You can choose whether there will be three years of famine in your land, or three months of your army running away from your enemies, or three days when there will be a ◄plague/very severe illness► in your land. You think about it and choose which one you want, and tell me, and I will return to Yahweh and tell him what your answer is.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

12“Go and tell this to David: ‘I am allowing you to choose one of three things to punish you. I will do whichever one you choose.’”

14David said to Gad, “All those are very terrible things for me to choose between! But allow Yahweh to punish [MTY] me, because he is very merciful. Do not allow humans to punish me, because they will not be merciful.”

Read all of 2 Samuel 24

Cross References

Leviticus 26:16these are the things that I will do to you: I will suddenly cause there to be disasters that will ruin you. You will have diseases that cannot be cured, and fevers that will cause you to become blind and will slowly kill you. It will be useless for you to plant seeds, because your enemies will eat the crops that grow.

Leviticus 26:25I will send foreign armies [MTY] to punish you for not doing the things that I commanded you to do in the agreement that I made with you. If you try to escape from your enemies by shutting yourselves in your cities that have walls around them, I will cause you to experience plagues, and I will allow your enemies to capture [IDM] you.

Deuteronomy 28:22Yahweh will strike/afflict you with diseases that shrivel your bodies, with fever, with inflammation/swelling. It will be extremely hot, and it will not rain. There will be scorching winds, and Yahweh will cause your crops to rot. All these things will strike you until you die.

Deuteronomy 28:27Yahweh will cause you to have boils on your skin, like he caused the people of Egypt to have many years ago. He will cause you to have tumors, open sores, and your skin will itch, and there will be nothing that will cure those diseases.

Deuteronomy 28:52Your enemies will surround your towns throughout the land that Yahweh your God is about to give to you, and they will break down the high and strong walls around your towns, walls which you trusted/thought would protect you.

2 Samuel 21:1During the time that David ruled, there was a famine in Israel for three years. David prayed to Yahweh about it. And Yahweh said, “ In order for the famine to end, Saul’s family needs to be punished [MTY] because Saul killed many people from Gibeon city.”

Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 24:11-18

The Numbering of the People Punished. ( b. c. 1017.) 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 2 Samuel 24:13