1. And the fury of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and he stirred up David among them, saying: "Go, number Israel and Judah."
2. And the king said to Joab, the leader of his army, "Travel through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, so that I may know their number."
3. And Joab said to the king: "May the Lord your God increase your people, who are already great in number, and may he again increase them, one hundredfold, in the sight of my lord the king. But what does my lord the king intend for himself by this kind of thing?"
4. But the words of the king prevailed over the words of Joab and the leaders of the army. And so Joab and the leaders of the military departed from the face of the king, so that they might number the people of Israel.
5. And when they had passed across the Jordan, they arrived at Aroer, to the right of the city, which is in the Valley of Gad.
6. And they continued on through Jazer, into Gilead, and to the lower land of Hodsi. And they arrived in the woodlands of Dan. And going around beside Sidon,
7. they passed near the walls of Tyre, and near all the land of the Hivite and the Canaanite. And they went into the south of Judah, to Beersheba.
8. And having inspected the entire land, after nine months and twenty days, they were present in Jerusalem.
9. Then Joab gave the number of the description of the people to the king. And there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand able-bodied men, who might draw the sword; and of Judah, five hundred thousand fighting men.
10. Then the heart of David struck him, after the people were numbered. And David said to the Lord: "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But I pray that you, O Lord, may take away the iniquity of your servant. For I have acted very foolishly."