NET Bible
"David said to Gad,“I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the LORD, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!”"
— 1 Chronicles 21:13, NET Bible
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Jehovah; for very great are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man. ”
“David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are very great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."”
“And David said to Gad: I am on every side in a great strait: but it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are many, than into the hands of men.”
“And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let me come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.”
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
“Go, tell David,‘This is what the LORD says:“I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them.”’”
Gad went to David and told him,“This is what the LORD says:‘Pick one of these:
three years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords, or three days being struck down by the LORD, during which a plague will invade the land and the LORD’s angel will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’ Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.”
David said to Gad,“I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the LORD, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!”
So the LORD sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.
God sent an angel to ravage Jerusalem. As he was doing so, the LORD watched and relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was destroying,“That’s enough! Stop now!” Now the LORD’s angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
David looked up and saw the LORD’s angel standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.