Verse 1

David Displeases the Lord by Taking a Census The LORD’s anger again raged against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying,“Go count Israel and Judah.”

Referenced Verses

  • 1 Chr 21:1 : 1 The Lord Sends a Plague against Israel An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.
  • 1 Chr 27:23-24 : 23 David did not count the males twenty years old and under, for the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky. 24 Joab son of Zeruiah started to count the men but did not finish. God was angry with Israel because of this, so the number was not recorded in the scroll called The Annals of King David.
  • Ezek 14:9 : 9 “‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word– I, the LORD, have made a fool of that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.
  • Ezek 20:25 : 25 I also gave them decrees which were not good and regulations by which they could not live.
  • Acts 4:28 : 28 to do as much as your power and your plan had decided beforehand would happen.
  • 2 Thess 2:11 : 11 Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.
  • Jas 1:13-14 : 13 Let no one say when he is tempted,“I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.
  • Gen 45:5 : 5 Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life!
  • Gen 50:20 : 20 As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day.
  • Exod 7:3 : 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt,
  • 1 Sam 26:19 : 19 So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD has incited you against me, may he take delight in an offering. But if men have instigated this, may they be cursed before the LORD! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the LORD’s inheritance, saying,‘Go on, serve other gods!’
  • 2 Sam 12:11 : 11 This is what the LORD has said:‘I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household! Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will go to bed with your wives in broad daylight!
  • 2 Sam 16:10 : 10 But the king said,“What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses because the LORD has said to him,‘Curse David!’, who can say to him,‘Why have you done this?’”
  • 2 Sam 21:1-9 : 1 The Gibeonites Demand Revenge During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the LORD. The LORD said,“It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, because he murdered the Gibeonites.” 2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them.(Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.) 3 David said to the Gibeonites,“What can I do for you, and how can I make amends so that you will bless the LORD’s inheritance?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him,“We have no claim to silver or gold from Saul or from his family, nor would we be justified in putting to death anyone in Israel.” David asked,“What then are you asking me to do for you?” 5 They replied to the king,“As for this man who exterminated us and who schemed against us so that we were destroyed and left without status throughout all the borders of Israel– 6 let seven of his male descendants be turned over to us, and we will execute them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, who was the LORD’s chosen one.” The king replied,“I will turn them over.” 7 The king had mercy on Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, in light of the LORD’s oath that had been taken between David and Jonathan son of Saul. 8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. 9 He turned them over to the Gibeonites, and they executed them on a hill before the LORD. The seven of them died together; they were put to death during harvest time– during the first days of the beginning of the barley harvest. 10 Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain fell on them, she did not allow the birds of the air to feed on them by day, nor the wild animals by night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done, 12 he went and took the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan from the leaders of Jabesh Gilead.(They had secretly taken them from the plaza at Beth Shan. It was there that Philistines publicly exposed their corpses after they had killed Saul at Gilboa.) 13 David brought the bones of Saul and of Jonathan his son from there; they also gathered up the bones of those who had been executed. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin at Zela in the grave of his father Kish. After they had done everything that the king had commanded, God responded to their prayers for the land.
  • 1 Kgs 22:20-23 : 20 The LORD said,‘Who will deceive Ahab, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that. 21 Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the LORD. He said,‘I will deceive him.’ 22 The LORD asked him,‘How?’ He replied,‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The LORD said,‘Deceive and overpower him. Go out and do as you have proposed.’ 23 So now, look, the LORD has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, but the LORD has decreed disaster for you.”