David said to God, Isn't it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.
And so the angel of the LORD went throughout the land of Israel [beginning to slay the men]: and seventy thousand of them fell by the pestilence [in the three days]. And the angel of the LORD came to Jerusalem to destroy it: and David saw the angel of the LORD with the drawn sword ( 1 Chronicles 21:14-16 ).