7 This command was evil in the sight of God, and he struck Israel.
8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in doing this thing. Take away your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, in these words:
10 Go, tell David: Thus says the Lord: I am laying out three options; choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.
11 Accordingly, Gad went to David and said to him: “Thus says the Lord: Decide now—
12 will it be three years of famine; or three months of fleeing your enemies, with the sword of your foes ever at your back; or three days of the Lord’s own sword, a plague in the land, with the Lord’s destroying angel in every part of Israel? Now consider: What answer am I to give him who sent me?”
13 Then David said to Gad: “I am in serious trouble. But let me fall into the hand of the Lord, whose mercy is very great, rather than into hands of men.”