⁷And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. =7.= _he smote Israel_] with the plague. ⁸And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. =8.= _put away ... the iniquity_] Render perhaps, =remove the punishment=; compare Genesis iv. 13, Revised Version with margin: also 1 Samuel xxviii. 10. ⁹And the LORD spake unto Gad, David’s seer, saying, =9.= _And the LORD spake_] The historian now retraces his steps to describe the circumstances which heralded the approach of the plague. _Gad_] He is three times mentioned in Chronicles, each time as a “seer,” viz. xxi. 9 (= 2 Samuel xxiv. 11); xxix. 29; 2 Chronicles xxix. 25. He was perhaps an older contemporary of Nathan, who bears the more modern title of “prophet” (compare 1 Samuel ix. 9). ¹⁰Go and speak unto David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer¹ thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. ¹¹So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Take which thou wilt; ¹ Hebrew _stretch out unto_. =10.= _I offer thee three things_] The offer is a test of David’s character, just as God’s different offer in 2 Chronicles i. 7 was a test of Solomon’s. ¹²either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even¹ pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me. ¹ Or, _and_. =12.= _three years of famine_] 2 Samuel, _seven years of famine_ (LXX. however _three_, as Chronicles). _three months to be consumed_] The correct text, however, is probably that found in 2 Samuel xxiv. 13, _or wilt thou flee three months?_ _the angel of the LORD_] Compare 2 Kings xix. 35; Acts xii. 23. _coasts_] Render, =borders=, i.e. through the whole land. ¹³And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great¹ are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man. ¹ Or, _many_. =13.= _into the hand of the LORD_] The answer reveals the sincerity and efficacy of David’s penitence: a right spirit is renewed within him. He now _chooses_ to trust in God. ¹⁴So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. =14.= _there fell of Israel_] 2 Samuel adds, _from Dan even to Beer-sheba_. The pestilence was throughout the whole land. ¹⁵And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan¹ the Jebusite.