1 Chronicles 21:15–28

¹⁵Then God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when the angel was about to destroy the city, ^pthe Lord looked, relented concerning the destruction, ^qand said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan ^rthe Jebusite.

¹⁶When David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, ^sfell down with their faces to the ground. ¹⁷David said to God, “Wasn’t I the one who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? My Lord God, please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s family, but don’t let the plague be against Your people.”

David’s Altar

¹⁸So the angel of the Lord ordered Gad ^tto tell David to go and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ^u19David went up at Gad’s command spoken in the name of the Lord.

²⁰Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel. His four sons, who were with him, hid themselves. ²¹David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.

²²Then David said to Ornan, “Give me this threshing-floor plot so that I may build an altar to the Lord on it. Give it to me for the full price, so the plague on the people may be stopped.”

²³Ornan said to David, “Take it! My lord the king may do whatever he wants. ^vSee, I give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I give it all.”

²⁴King David answered Ornan, “No, I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the Lord what belongs to you or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

²⁵So David gave Ornan 15 pounds of gold ^wfor the plot. ²⁶He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. ^x

²⁷Then the Lord spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. ²⁸At that time, David offered sacrifices there when he saw that the Lord answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.