2 Samuel 24:10–25

¹⁰Then ^aDavid’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. So David said to Yahweh, “^bI have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Yahweh, please ¹take away the iniquity of Your slave, for ^cI have acted very foolishly.”

¹¹Then David arose in the morning, and the word of Yahweh came to ^athe prophet Gad, David’s ^bseer, saying,

¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do that to you.” ’ ”

¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^aseven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, know and see what word I should return to Him who sent me.”

¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, ^afor His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So ^aYahweh ¹sent a pestilence against Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70,000 men of the people ^bfrom Dan to Beersheba died.

^16aThen the angel sent forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and ^bYahweh ¹relented of the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of Yahweh was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷Then David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, ^ait is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done unrighteousness; but ^bthese sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and my father’s house.”

David Erects an Altar

¹⁸So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^aGo up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of ¹Araunah the Jebusite.”

¹⁹So David went up according to the word of Gad, just as Yahweh had commanded.

²⁰And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.

²¹Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh, ^athat the plague may be checked from being upon the people.”

²²And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, ^athe oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

²³“Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God ^aaccept you.”

²⁴However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for ^aI will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God ¹which cost me nothing.” So ^bDavid bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty ²shekels of silver.

²⁵Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^aThus Yahweh was moved by the entreaty for the land, and the plague was checked from being upon Israel.