Problem
2 Samuel 24:13
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
1 Chronicles 21:11-12
11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee
12 Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
So did God, through the prophet Gad, ask King David to choose seven years of famine or three years of famine?
Solution:
Israel just had three years of famine in 2 Samuel 21:1, then at least a month of famine in 2 Samuel 21:9-10, and in 2 Samuel 24:8 Israel suffered nine months and twenty days of famine during the numbering of the people. So the Israelites had just gone through about four years of famine.
If David chose to have three more years of famine then Israel would have had a total of about seven years of famine.
The prophet Gad could have spoken to King David on two or more occasions until David made up his mind. Something like: “So David, do you choose to have seven years of total famine?” Then later, “David, have you chosen to have three more years of famine?”
The text in the King James Bible aligns up perfectly.