Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:15
So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records a plague striking Israel after David chooses to fall into the Lord's hands rather than human hands. The judgment runs from morning until a fixed deadline, claiming seventy thousand lives across the nation from Dan to Beersheba.
The words — דֶּבֶר (dever) translates as pestilence or lethal disease, while מוֹעֵד (mo'ed) indicates a set or appointed time. The text states Yahweh actively sends this plague upon Israel.
The thread — The event matches the seventy thousand deaths recorded in 1 Chronicles 21:14 and links to the census wrath in 1 Chronicles 27:24 and the plague intervention in Numbers 16:46. The sequence concludes in 2 Samuel 24:16 when the Lord halts the angel at Jerusalem.
Why it lands — The passage presents a direct account of sovereign judgment and its precise boundaries. It demands recognition of divine authority over national mortality and the limit of mercy.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer–sheba seventy thousand men.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 21:14 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.
- 1 Chronicles 27:24 Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of the Chronicles of King David.
- Numbers 16:46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”
- Numbers 25:9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
- 1 Samuel 6:19 But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
- 1 Chronicles 27:4 Dodai the Ahohite was in charge of the division for the second month, and Mikloth was the leader. There were 24,000 men in his division.
- Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- Matthew 24:7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
- Revelation 6:8 Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.
- 2 Samuel 24:2 So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.”