2 Samuel 24:3-5

Common English Bible

³ Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God increase the number of people a hundred times while the eyes of my master the king can still see it! But why does my master the king want to do this?”

⁴ But the king’s word overruled Joab and the military commanders. So Joab and the commanders left the king’s presence to take a census of the Israelites. ⁵ They crossed the Jordan River and began from Aroer and from^[a] the town that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, then on to Jazer.