2 Samuel 24 · Verse 13

2 Samuel 24:13

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
2 Samuel 24:13, King James Version

2 Samuel 24:13 in other translations

BSBSo Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”
WEBSo Gad came to David, and told him, saying, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
ASVSo Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
YLTAnd Gad cometh in unto David, and declareth to him, and saith to him, ‘Do seven years of famine come in to thee in thy land? or three months art thou fleeing before thine adversary--and he pursuing thee? or are three days' pestilence in thy land? now, know and see what word I take back to Him sending me.'
DARBYAnd Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine adversaries while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now be aware and consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
BBESo Gad came to David, and gave him word of this and said to him, Are there to be three years when there is not enough food in your land? or will you go in flight from your haters for three months, while they go after you? or will you have three days of violent disease in your land? take thought and say what answer I am to give to him who sent me.
WebsterSo Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come upon thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now consider, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

What does 2 Samuel 24:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 24:10-13

10-13. David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned--The act of numbering the people was not in itself sinful; for Moses did it by the express authority of God. But David acted not only independently of such order or sanction, but from motives unworthy of the delegated king of Israel; from pride and vainglory; from self-confidence and distrust of God…

Read the full comment on 2 Samuel 24:10-13 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 Shall seven years of famine - In 1Chr 21:12, the number is three, not seven; and here the Septuagint has three, the same as in Chronicles: this is no doubt the true reading, the letter ז zain, Seven, being mistaken for ג gimel, Three. A mistake of this kind might be easily made from the similarity of the letters.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 2 Samuel 24:10-15

It is well, when a man has sinned, if he has a heart within to smite him for it. If we confess our sins, we may pray in faith that God would forgive them, and take away, by pardoning mercy, that sin which we cast away by sincere repentance. What we make the matter of our pride, it is just in God to take from us, or make bitter to us, and make it our punishment. This must be such a punishment as the people have a…

Read the full comment on 2 Samuel 24:10-15 →

2 Samuel 24:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיָּבֹא\־vai.ya.vo'-and he wentH935
גָ֥דgadGadH1410
אֶל\־'el-toH413
דָּוִ֖דda.VidDavidH1732
וַיַּגֶּד\־vai.ya.ged-and he toldH5046
ל֑וֹloto <the> him
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.merand he saidH559
ל֡וֹloto <the> him
הֲתָב֣וֹאha.ta.Vo'¿ will it comeH935
לְךָ֣le.Khato <the> you
שֶֽׁבַעShe.va'sevenH7651
שָׁנִ֣ים\׀sha.NimyearsH8141
רָעָ֣ב\׀ra.'AvfamineH7458
בְּאַרְצֶ֡ךָbe.'ar.Tze.khain land yourH776
אִם\־'im-or?H518
שְׁלֹשָׁ֣הshe.lo.ShahthreeH7969
חֳ֠דָשִׁיםCho.da.shimmonthsH2320
נֻסְךָ֨nus.Khafleeing youH5127
לִפְנֵֽי\־lif.nei-<to> beforeH6440
צָרֶ֜יךָtza.Rei.khaopponents yourH6862
וְה֣וּאve.Hu'and heH1931
רֹדְפֶ֗ךָro.de.Fe.kha[will be] pursuing youH7291
וְאִם\־ve.'im-and or?H518
הֱ֠יוֹתHe.yotto beH1961
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁתshe.Lo.shetthreeH7969
יָמִ֥יםya.MimdaysH3117
דֶּ֙בֶר֙de.verpestilenceH1698
בְּאַרְצֶ֔ךָbe.'ar.Tze.khain land yourH776
עַתָּה֙'a.TahnowH6258
דַּ֣עda'knowH3045
וּרְאֵ֔הu.re.'Ehand seeH7200
מָה\־mah-what?H4100
אָשִׁ֥יב'a.Shivwill I bring backH7725
שֹׁלְחִ֖יsho.le.Chi[the] [one who] sent meH7971
דָּבָֽר\׃\ \סda.VarwordH1697

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Samuel 24:13

  • 1 Chronicles 21:12

    Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

  • 2 Samuel 21:1

    Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

  • Leviticus 26:25

    And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

  • 1 Kings 17:1-7

    And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. …

  • Deuteronomy 28:22

    The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

  • Deuteronomy 28:25

    The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

  • Leviticus 26:36-37

    And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.

  • Ezekiel 14:19-21

    Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

  • Deuteronomy 28:27

    The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

  • Luke 4:25

    But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

  • Deuteronomy 28:52

    And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

  • Ezekiel 14:13

    Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
seven.
21:1; Le 26:20; 1Ki 17:1-7; 1Ch 21:12; Eze 14:13,21; Lu 4:25
flee.
Le 26:17,36,37; De 28:25,52
three days.
Le 26:16,25; De 28:22,27,35; Ps 91:6; Eze 14:19-21

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 2 Samuel 24:12

    Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

  • 2 Samuel 24:13

    So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

  • 2 Samuel 24:14

    And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

Read all of 2 Samuel 24

2 Samuel 24:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Vino pues Gad á David, é intimóle, y díjole: ¿Quieres que te vengan siete años de hambre en tu tierra? ¿ó que huyas tres meses delante de tus enemigos, y que ellos te persigan? ¿ó que tres días haya pestilencia en tu tierra? Piensa ahora, y mira qué responderé al que me ha enviado.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et Gad vint vers David, et lui rapporta cela, et lui dit: La famine viendra-t-elle sur toi sept ans dans ton pays; ou veux-tu fuir trois mois devant tes ennemis, et qu’ils te poursuivent; ou y aura-t-il trois jours de peste dans ton pays? Sache maintenant, et vois quelle parole je rapporterai à celui qui m’a envoyé.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und Gad kam zu David und tat es ihm kund und sprach zu ihm: Sollen dir sieben Jahre Hungersnot in dein Land kommen? oder willst du drei Monate vor deinen Feinden fliehen, indem sie dir nachjagen? oder soll drei Tage Pest in deinem Lande sein? Nun wisse und sieh, was für eine Antwort ich dem zurückbringen soll, der mich gesandt hat.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Cumque venisset Gad ad David, nuntiavit ei, dicens: Aut septem annis veniet tibi fames in terra tua: aut tribus mensibus fugies adversarios tuos, et ille te persequentur: aut certe tribus diebus erit pestilentia in terra tua. Nunc ergo delibera, et vide quem respondeam ei qui me misit sermonem.