three months to be consumed] The correct text, however, is probably that found in 2 Samuel xxiv. 13, or wilt thou flee three months?
the angel of the Lord] Compare 2 Kings xix. 35; Acts xii. 23.
coasts] Render, borders, i.e. through the whole land.
¹³And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great[¹] are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man.
[¹] Or, many.
13. into the hand of the Lord] The answer reveals the sincerity and efficacy of David’s penitence: a right spirit is renewed within him. He now chooses to trust in God.
¹⁴So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
14. there fell of Israel] 2 Samuel adds, from Dan even to Beer-sheba. The pestilence was throughout the whole land.
¹⁵And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan[¹] the Jebusite.
[¹] In 2 Samuel xxiv. 16, &c., Araunah.