In context
12either three years of famine, or three months of being swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of Yahweh — plague in the land, with the angel of Yahweh bringing destruction throughout all the territory of Israel. Now decide what answer I should bring to the one who sent me.” 13David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of Yahweh, for his mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” 14So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, Yahweh saw and relented concerning the calamity, and he said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now stay your hand.” The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16David looked up and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
