'Enough, it is now enough ; hold thine hand.'
Then David himself saw how the angel slew the people,
and cried to God, and said with anguish,
'I am he that sinned, and I myself did unrightly
against Thee; what have these sheep done?
I pray thee that Thou wilt turn Thine hand against me,
and Thine indignation against my house.'
Then came Gad the prophet walking, and said to him,
'Go now, and rear quickly an altar to God,
and offer thy sacrifice, that this terror may cease.'
Then did David so, and the Lord had pity on him,
and the angel might no longer slay the men.
God would not slay the guilty David,
though he had sinned, because very often he had done,
both before and afterward, very excellent things
to the satisfaction of God, and God therefore spared him;
and those who there were slain, their souls were preserved.
Again, there was 'a people whom the living God
would punish for their witless deeds;
those were the Ninevites, who acted madly.
Then God sent to them a certain prophet,
hight Jonah, and bade them desist,
or they should all be destroyed together.
The king then turned directly with his people,
and they all fasted three consecutive days, and the Lord had pity on them.
A man can neither write, nor reckon in words,
