1 Chronicles 21:14-16

The Voice

¹⁴ So the Eternal did as He promised and sent a violent plague to Israel; 70,000 men of Israel died. ¹⁵ God also sent a heavenly messenger to destroy Jerusalem; but as the messenger was poised to ruin it, the Eternal saw the damage caused by the plague and grieved over the calamity. He told the messenger, “The pestilence is enough punishment; stand down.” The Eternal’s messenger stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite when the True God stopped him.

¹⁶ When David looked up and saw the Eternal’s messenger standing between earth and heaven with his sword stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders mourned. They dressed in sackcloth and prostrated themselves.