¹⁹ I will also ^(A)break down your pride of power; and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.

^16 [a](A)Beware that your hearts are not easily deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods, and worship them. ¹⁷ Otherwise, ^(B)the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will ^(C)shut up the sky ^(D)so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce; then ^(E)you will quickly perish from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

¹⁰ Now ^(A)David’s heart ^[a]troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the Lord, “^(B)I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, Lord, please ^[b]overlook the guilt of Your servant, for ^(C)I have acted very foolishly.” ¹¹ When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(D)Gad the prophet, David’s ^(E)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”’” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(F)seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee for three months before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.”