David Takes a Census
(2 Samuel 24.1-25)1 Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census. 2 David gave orders to Joab and the other officers, “Go through Israel, from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are.”
3 Joab answered, “May the Lord make the people of Israel a hundred times more numerous than they are now! Your Majesty, they are all your servants. Why do you want to do this and make the whole nation guilty?” 4 But the king made Joab obey the order. Joab went out, traveled through the whole country of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem. 5 He reported to King David the total number of men capable of military service: 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. 6 Because Joab disapproved of the king's command, he did not take any census of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.
7 God was displeased with what had been done, so he punished Israel. 8 David said to God, “I have committed a terrible sin in doing this! Please forgive me. I have acted foolishly.”
9 Then the Lord said to Gad, David's prophet, 10 “Go and tell David that I am giving him three choices. I will do whichever he chooses.”
11 Gad went to David, told him what the Lord had said, and asked, “Which is it to be? 12 Three years of famine? Or three months of running away from the armies of your enemies? Or three days during which the Lord attacks you with his sword and sends an epidemic on your land, using his angel to bring death throughout Israel? What answer shall I give the Lord?”
13 David replied to Gad, “I am in a desperate situation! But I don't want to be punished by people. Let the Lord himself be the one to punish me, because he is merciful.”
14 So the Lord sent an epidemic on the people of Israel, and seventy thousand of them died. 15 Then he sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but he changed his mind and said to the angel, “Stop! That's enough!” The angel was standing by the threshing place of Araunah, a Jebusite.
16 David saw the angel standing in midair, holding his sword in his hand, ready to destroy Jerusalem. Then David and the leaders of the people—all of whom were wearing sackcloth—bowed low, with their faces touching the ground. 17 David prayed, “O God, I am the one who did wrong. I am the one who ordered the census. What have these poor people done? Lord, my God, punish me and my family, and spare your people.”
18 The angel of the Lord told Gad to command David to go and build an altar to the Lord at Araunah's threshing place. 19 David obeyed the Lord's command and went, as Gad had told him to. 20 There at the threshing place Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat, and when they saw the angel, the sons ran and hid. 21 As soon as Araunah saw King David approaching, he left the threshing place and bowed low, with his face touching the ground. 22 David said to him, “Sell me your threshing place, so that I can build an altar to the Lord, to stop the epidemic. I'll give you the full price.”
23 “Take it, Your Majesty,” Araunah said, “and do whatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar, and here are the threshing boards to use as fuel, and wheat to give as an offering. I give it all to you.”
24 But the king answered, “No, I will pay you the full price. I will not give as an offering to the Lord something that belongs to you, something that costs me nothing.” 25 And he paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for the threshing place. 26 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn the sacrifices on the altar.
27 The Lord told the angel to put his sword away, and the angel obeyed. 28 David saw by this that the Lord had answered his prayer, so he offered sacrifices on the altar at Araunah's threshing place. 29 The Tent of the Lord's presence which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar on which sacrifices were burned were still at the place of worship at Gibeon at this time; 30 but David was not able to go there to worship God, because he was afraid of the sword of the Lord's angel.
Kubagwa kwe bathu
(2 Samuele 24:1-25)1 Satani kamukila Iziraela ngono kathama kuti Dafite azhigwe nge nkumbulo we kubala Baiziraela. 2 Ndizo Dafite kadwa Joabu ne balauli be babhayani kati, “Yendani munobala Baiziraela kudwa mu Bheerisheba kunoti ku Dani ngono undizhisile mbiko kuti ndizo ndizibe mbalo yabo.”
3 Koga Joabu kashandula eti, “Tshene Yahwe bangawatsha bathu babo kupinda kwabali iko ngwenu ka zana (100)! Tetshi wangu mambo wangu atenti balanda benyu bose, ini munga shaka kuti babagwe kene? Ini muzhisila Iziraela nlandu kene?” 4 Koga matama a mambo kakulila Joabu, ndizo Joabu kamilika kayenda Iziraela yose kudwapo kashandukila ku Jerusalema. 5 Joabu kabikila Dafite mbalo yose ye balume be ngwa sahwou: Mu Iziraela yose kwakabe kuli balume bali miliyoni ingo'ompela ina zwiwulu zwili zana lina (1 100 000) banobhata mathumo, mu Juda bakabe bali zwiwulu zwili mazana manna ana makumi ali kutendeka (470 000) bakalizana ngwa. 6 Koga aazobalilanya ne Balevi ne Babhenjamini ngobe akabe asingadumane ne ndaulo ya mambo.
7 Koga Ndzimu ukasishathile ikoko kose ngono ukaloba Iziraela. 8 Ngono Dafite kabe edwa Ndzimu eti, “Ndatjinya kwakabangalala ngothama tjandathama. Koga ngwenu ndomukumbila bukushani jinyo le nlanda wenyu ngobe ndathama bulengwe.” 9 Ngono Yahwe bakalebeleka na Gadi nlebesambeli wa Dafite bakati, 10 “Yenda unodwa Dafite uti, ‘Yahwe bakati, ndokupa zwithu zwili zwitatu, ushalule ku ng'ompela mu zwili kuti ndikuthamile iko.’ ”
11 Ndizo Gadi kazha kuna Dafite ngono kati kunli, “Yahwe bakati, ‘Shalula kwaunoshaka, 12 makole matatu e bhamba kene mimwedzi mitatu ye kuthukudziwa nge thumo le zwita zwizo, ha thumo le zwita zwizo likukulila, kene mazhuba matatu e thumo la Yahwe ne bugwele mu shango ne ntumwa wa Yahwe ekolomodza ntuthu wose we Iziraela.’ Ngwenu shalula tjaunoshaka, kuti ndizo ndiyise dabilo kuna wandituma.”
13 Ipapo Dafite kashandula Gadi eti, “Ndimu tjimo tjinomanikanya, koyita kuti ndiwile mu maboko a Yahwe ngono ibo bana ngoni pana kuti ndiwile mu maboko e nthu.”
14 Ndizo Yahwe bakatumila bugwele mu Iziraela, kukafa balume be Iziraela bali zwiwulu zwili makumi ali kutendeka (70 000). 15 Kudwapo bakatumila ntumwa we kudzimu ku Jerusalema ku ikolomola koga wakati abe pejo ne kuyilobesa Yahwe bakabuza moyo ngono bakabe bedwa ntumwa we kudzimu we golomodzo beti, “Kwagala, misa!” Ngono ntumwa we kudzimu we golomodzo wakabe ali mile pa lubuwa gwa Orinani we N'jebusi. 16 Dafite kamilidza mesho kabona ntumwa we kudzimu wa Yahwe ali mu phepo pakati kwe shango ne kudzimu akabhata thumo akalitambunudzila ku Jerusalema. Dafite ne bakulu bakabe bakaambala masaka e tjililo bakawa nge njiso dzabo. 17 Ngono Dafite kabe eti ku Ndzimu, “Apa ate imi ndakadusa ndaulo ye kuti babhayani babagwe kene? Apa ate imi ndakathama jinyo athama bubi kene? Koga bathu ibaba ibo bakatjinyani kene? Ndomukumbila Yahwe Ndzimu wangu lobani imi ne be nsha wangu koga musiletje bugwele gukawila bathu benyu.”
18 Ipapo ntumwa we kudzimu wa Yahwe ukadwa Gadi kuti adwe Dafite kuti atathile pezhugwi anobakila Yahwe tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo mu lutombo gwa Orinani we N'jebusi. 19 Ndizo Dafite kabhulutana matama a Gadi aakabe aleba mu zina la Yahwe. 20 Ngono Orinani wakabe e pula mathunde mu lutombo ngono kati etendebuka kabona ntumwa we kudzimu ngono bakololo babe bali banna baakabe anabo bakanobgwata. 21 Ngono Dafite wakati ezha kuna Orinani, Orinani kalinga ngono kabona Dafite kabhuda pa lutombo kawa nge buso kathigamila Dafite. 22 Ngono Dafite kandwa kati, “Unditengesele lutombo gugo kuti ndibakile Yahwe tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo, ndowotenga nge themba izhele kuti ndizo bugwele gume gusipedze bathu.”
23 Orinani kabe eti kuna Dafite, “Mugutoleni, tetshi wangu mambo bangu ngabathame tjabanobona tjakabalulwamila. Bonani ndomupa mangabe ali zwibhayilo zwinopisiwa ne zwileyi zwinopula ne mathunde e tjibhayilo tje mathunde. Ndomupa kose.”
24 Koga Mambo Dafite bakashandula beti, “Aa ndowogutenga nge themba izhele. Andingape Yahwe zwithu zwizo kene kuli kudusila Yahwe tjibhayilo tjinopisiwa tjandisatukutilila.” 25 Ndizo Dafite kalipa Orinani themba ye mazana ali tathatu (600) e shekele dze golide. 26 Ngono Dafite kabakila Yahwe tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo ngono kazhisa zwibhayilo zwinopisiwa ne zwibhayilo zwe mbakisano ngono kadana Yahwe ngono Yahwe bakan'dabila nge moto kudwa kudzimu udelukila mu tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo zwinopisiwa. 27 Ngono Yahwe bakadwa ntumwa we kudzimu kuti abgwilize thumo mu hwomo.
28 Mu tjibaka itjetjo Dafite wakati ebona kuti Yahwe ban'dabila ali mu lutombo gwa Orinani we N'jebusi, kadusila zwibhayilo ipapo. 29 Bugalo gwa Yahwe igo Mushe gwaakabaka ali mu tjilambanyika ne tjibeso tjinopisigwa zwibhayilo zwinopisiwa zwakabe zwitji ku bugalo gwakatathila ku Gibiyoni, 30 koga Dafite wakabe asingake kayenda kunoshakisisa ku Ndzimu ngobe akabe etja thumo le ntumwa wa Yahwe.