36 And ^dthe men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by ^ebringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord.

46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the ^pplague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague ^qwas stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the ^uplague on the people of Israel was stopped. 9 Nevertheless, ^vthose who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

15 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord ^qrelented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the ^rangel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

David Builds an Altar

18 ^sAnd Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the ^tthreshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be ^uaverted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. ^vHere are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels¹ of silver. 25 And David ^wbuilt there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord ^xresponded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

14 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell.