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.