¹ And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.

² Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.

³ And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;

⁴ To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.

⁵ And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;

⁶ So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.

⁷ And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.

⁸ Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.

⁹ Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.

¹⁰ And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.

¹¹ So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.

¹² Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.

¹³ Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.

¹⁴ And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:

¹⁵ For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.

¹⁶ And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.

¹⁷ Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.

¹⁸ And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.

¹⁴ Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

¹ Again the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah."

² The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

³ Joab said to the king, "Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"

⁴ Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

⁵ They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer:

⁶ then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon,

⁷ and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.

⁸ So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹ Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰ David's heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

¹¹ When David rose up in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹² "Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

¹³ So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

¹⁴ David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man."

¹⁵ So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.