3 Joab answered, “I hope the Lord your God will give you a hundred times more soldiers than you already have. I hope you will live to see that day! But why do you want to do a thing like this?”
4 But when David refused to change his mind, Joab and the army officers went out and started counting the people.
5 They crossed the River Jordan and began with Aroer and the town in the middle of the river valley. From there they went towards Gad and on as far as Jazer.
6 They went to Gilead and to Kadesh in Syria. Then they went to Dan, Ijon, and on towards Sidon.
7 They came to the fortress of Tyre, then went through every town of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Finally, they went to Beersheba in the Southern Desert of Judah.
8 After they had gone through the whole land, they went back to Jerusalem. It had taken them nine months and twenty days.
9 Joab came and told David, “In Israel there are eight hundred thousand who can serve in the army, and in Judah there are five hundred thousand.”