2 Samuel 6:7-8

6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ¹  he ²  killed him on the spot ³  for his negligence. ⁴  He died right there beside the ark of God.

6:8 David was angry because the Lord attacked ⁵  Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, ⁶  which remains its name to this very day.

2 Samuel 12:5

12:5 Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁷ 

2 Samuel 24:1

David Displeases the Lord by Taking a Census

24:1 The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go count Israel and Judah.” ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

² tn Heb “God.”

³ tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

⁵ tn Heb “because the Lord broke out [with] a breaking out [i.e., an outburst] against Uzzah.”

⁶ sn The name Perez Uzzah means in Hebrew “the outburst [against] Uzzah.”

⁹ tn Heb “the man doing this [is] a son of death.” See 1 Sam 20:31 for another use of this expression, which must mean “he is as good as dead” or “he deserves to die,” as 1 Sam 20:32 makes clear.

¹³ sn The parallel text in 1 Chr 21:1 says, “An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.” The Samuel version gives an underlying theological perspective, while the Chronicler simply describes what happened from a human perspective. The adversary in 1 Chr 21:1 is likely a human enemy, probably a nearby nation whose hostility against Israel pressured David into numbering the people so he could assess his military strength. See the note at 1 Chr 21:1.