Wednesday of the 4th Week of Ordinary Time

The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, "Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the sum of the people."

Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

David's heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, the Lord, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."

When David rose up in the morning, the Lord's word came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, "Go and speak to David, 'The Lord says, "I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you."'"

So Gad came to David, and told him, saying, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days ' pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me."

David said to Gad, "I am in distress. Let us fall now into the Lord's hand, for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into man's hand."

So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and seventy thousand men died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba. When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough. Now withdraw your hand."The Lord's angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father's house."

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord doesn't impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn't hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

He went out from there. He came into his own country, and his disciples followed him. When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things?"and, "What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands? Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?"So they were offended at him.

Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house." He could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. He marveled because of their unbelief.

He went around the villages teaching.