¹² “When you take a census^(A) of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom^(B) for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague^(C) will come on them when you number them.

²³ David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less,^(A) because the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars^(B) in the sky.