Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,

a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests."

Do this because you belong to the LORD your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

But the LORD loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

The LORD has made a solemn promise, and he will not abandon you, for he has decided to make you his own people.

where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God.

I am going to give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all; it would be as easy to count all the specks of dust on earth!

The LORD took him outside and said, "Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that."

I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies.

David gave orders to Joab and the other officers, "Go through Israel, from one end of the country to the other, and count the people. I want to know how many there are."

He reported to King David the total number of men capable of military service: 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah.

Because Joab disapproved of the king's command, he did not take any census of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.

King David did not take a census of the people who were under the age of twenty, because of the LORD's promise to make the people of Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, began to take a census, but he did not complete it. God punished Israel because of this census, so the final figures were never recorded in King David's official records.