The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron -- four in all.

The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Jibsam, and Samuel. They were leaders of their families. In the time of David there were 22,600 warriors listed in Tola's genealogical records.

Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me." But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.

So David again asked God what he should do. This time God told him, "Don't march up after them; circle around them and come against them in front of the trees.

He told them: "You are the leaders of the Levites' families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves and bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel up to the place I have prepared for it.

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as musicians; they were to play various instruments, including stringed instruments and cymbals, and to sing loudly and joyfully.

That night God told Nathan the prophet,

Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.

Messengers came and told David what had happened to the men, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, "Stay in Jericho until your beards grow again; then you may come back."

David told Joab and the leaders of the army, "Go, count the number of warriors from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have."

The Lord told Gad, David's prophet,

Gad went to David and told him, "This is what the Lord says: 'Pick one of these:

God sent an angel to ravage Jerusalem. As he was doing so, the Lord watched and relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was destroying, "That's enough! Stop now!" Now the Lord's angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

So the Lord's messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Ornan told David, "You can have it! My master, the king, may do what he wants. Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you."

He told them, "The Lord your God is with you! He has made you secure on every side, for he handed over to me the inhabitants of the region and the region is subdued before the Lord and his people.

David told the entire assembly: "Praise the Lord your God!" So the entire assembly praised the Lord God of their ancestors; they bowed down and stretched out flat on the ground before the Lord and the king.