3 Joab answered, “I hope the Lord your God will give you 100 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 Jordan River and began with Aroer and the town in the middle of the river valley. From there they went toward 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 toward 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 9 months and 20 days.
9 Joab came and told David, “In Israel there are 800,000 who can serve in the army, and in Judah there are 500,000.”