¹⁶But when the Messenger stretched out his arm to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord changed his mind about the disaster. “Enough!” he said to the Messenger who was destroying the people. “Put down your weapon.” The Messenger of the Lord was at the threshing floor^bof Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷When David saw the Messenger who had been killing the people, he said to the Lord, “I’ve sinned. I’ve done wrong. What have these sheep done? Please let your punishment be against me and against my father’s family.”

¹⁸That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go, set up an altar for the Lord at Araunah the Jebusite’s threshing floor.”

¹⁹David went as Gad had told him and as the Lord had commanded him. ²⁰When Araunah looked down and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down with his face touching the ground in front of the king. ²¹“Why has Your Majesty come to me?” Araunah asked.

David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you and to build an altar for the Lord. Then the plague on the people will stop.”

²²Araunah said to David, “Take it, Your Majesty, and offer whatever you think is right. There are oxen for the burnt offering, and there are threshers and oxen yokes^cfor firewood.” ²³All this Araunah gave to the king and said, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

²⁴“No!” the king said to Araunah. “I must buy it from you at a ⸤fair⸥ price. I won’t offer the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 1¼ pounds of silver. ²⁵David built an altar for the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So the Lord heard the prayers for the country, and the plague on Israel stopped.

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Footnotes

b 24:16 A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.
c 24:22 A thresher is a device used to separate grain from its husks. A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.