The LORD’s anger burned against Israel again, and he stirred up David against them to say,“ Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army,“ Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the troops so I can know their number.”Joab replied to the king,“ May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times more than they are— while my lord the king looks on! But why does my lord the king want to do this?”Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the king’s presence to register the troops of Israel.They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, south of the town in the middle of the valley, and then proceeded toward Gad and Jazer.They went to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites and continued on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.They went to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Afterward, they went to the Negev of Judah at Beer-sheba.When they had gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.Joab gave the king the total of the registration of the troops. There were eight hundred thousand valiant armed men from Israel and five hundred thousand men from Judah.David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the LORD,“ I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, LORD, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.”
After the plague, the LORD said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron the priest,“ Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their ancestral families of those twenty years old or more who can serve in Israel’s army.”
