2 Samuel 24:3-5

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

³ But Jo′ab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ⁴ But the king’s word prevailed against Jo′ab and the commanders of the army. So Jo′ab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan, and began from Aro′er,^[a] and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer.