The last things David said, the man God raised up high from being a shepherd boy

to be king over His people, Israel.

The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me.

His word was in my mouth.

The Rock of Israel spoke to me and said, The one that rules over men must do it right and fair, being afraid to do something wrong or bad because God won’t be happy with that.

A king who does it like God wants will be like the sunshine coming up in the morning when there are no clouds in the sky.

He will be like the new soft grass springing up from the ground because of clear light after rain.

God made a deal with David that will last forever, a good deal, solid as a rock.

He saves from every trouble and gives me everything my heart wants. 

But the ones that follow the bad one will be like stickers that are too sharp to touch.

They will all be burned away forever.

David had a list of God’s heroes who helped him. The Lord won great battles against the bad ones through them.

The Lord became angry again against Israel and He had David count the number of soldiers in Israel, though God had promised to make them as many as the sand of the sea. Too many to count.

David’s commander tried to talk David out of it. He said, May God make His people a hundred times more than they are now, but why do you want to do this thing against God?

The king’s word was stronger and so the commander went to count all the soldiers.

At the end of 9 months and 20 days they came back to the king and gave him the number: 800,000.

Then David said, I have sinned a big sin. Please, God, take away this sin. I have done a very foolish thing.

The next morning the Lord sent word to David by God’s prophet named Gad. The Lord says, I offer you three things, choose one of them.

Shall there be seven years of not enough food for the people to eat,

or three months running away from you enemies

while they win over you in battle,

or three days of disease sweeping through the land?

David sent his answer the Lord: Let me fall into the hand of the Lord because his loving kindness is very great. Do not let me fall into the hands of man.

So disease swept through the land.

When the angel spreading the disease got to Jerusalem, to destroy it, God told the angel to stop.

Then He told David to build and altar at a special place and give the offering that showed God’s love to be poured out for us.

David did this and the disease was stopped.

God comforted His people after the trouble.

He poured His good blessings on all the people again.