10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m offering you three choices. Choose the one you want me to do to you.’ ”
11 When Gad came to David, he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your pick:
12 either three years of famine, or three months during which your enemies will chase you away when their swords catch up to you, or three days of the Lord’s sword—a plague in the land with the Messenger of the Lord destroying the whole country of Israel.’ Decide what answer I should give the one who sent me.”
13 “I’m in a desperate situation,” David told Gad. “Please let me fall into the Lord’s hands because he is extremely merciful. But don’t let me fall into human hands.”
14 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and 70,000 Israelites died.
15 God also sent a Messenger to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was destroying it, the Lord reconsidered and changed his mind about the disaster. “Enough!” he said to the destroying Messenger. “Put down your weapon.” The Messenger of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 When David looked up, he saw the Messenger of the Lord standing between heaven and earth. The Messenger had a sword in his hand and stretched it over Jerusalem. David and the leaders were dressed in sackcloth. They bowed down with their faces touching the ground.