1 Chronicles 21:1-6 ▼

1 A satan rose up against Israel, and he incited David to take a census of Israel.

2 David therefore said to Joab and to the other generals of the army, “Go, number the Israelites from Beer-sheba to Dan, and report back to me that I may know their number.”

3 But Joab replied: “May the LORD increase his people a hundredfold! My lord king, are not all of them my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord seek to do this thing? Why should he bring guilt upon Israel?”

4 However, the king’s command prevailed over Joab, who departed and traversed all of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem.

5 Joab reported the census figures to David: of men capable of wielding a sword, there were in all Israel one million one hundred thousand, and in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand.

6 Levi and Benjamin, however, he did not include in the census, for the king’s command was repugnant to Joab.