3 Joab responded to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the people a hundred times over, and may Your Majesty ⌊live⌋ to see it. But why does Your Majesty wish to do this?”
4 However, the king overruled Joab and the commanders of the army. So they left the king ⌊in order⌋ to count the people of Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan River and camped at Aroer, south of the city in the middle of the valley. Then they went to Gad and to Jazer.
6 They went to Gilead and to Tahtim Hodshi and then to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon.
7 They went to the fortified city of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.
8 When they had covered the whole country, they came to Jerusalem after 9 months and 20 days.
9 Joab reported the census figures to the king: In Israel there were 800,000 able-bodied men who could serve in the army, and in Judah there were 500,000.