¹⁸That day Gad came to David and said, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David did what Gad told him to do, just as the Lord commanded.

²⁰Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and bowed facedown on the ground before the king. ²¹He said, “Why has my master the king come to me?”

David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you so I can build an altar to the Lord. Then the terrible disease will stop.”

²²Araunah said to David, “My master and king, you may take anything you want for a sacrifice. Here are some oxen for the whole burnt offering and the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood. ²³My king, I give everything to you.” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you.”

²⁴But the king answered Araunah, “No, I will pay you for the land. I won’t offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for one and one-fourth pounds of silver. ²⁵He built an altar to the Lord there and offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer for the country, and the disease in Israel stopped.

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