2 Samuel 24:18-25

New International Version

David Builds an Altar^(A)

¹⁸On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah^(B) the Jebusite.” ¹⁹So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. ²⁰When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”^(C)

²²Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen^(D) for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. ²³Your Majesty, Araunah^[a] gives^(E) all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

²⁴But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”^(F)

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels^[b]^(G) of silver for them. ²⁵David built an altar^(H) to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer^(I) in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

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Footnotes

2 Samuel 24:23 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts King Araunah
2 Samuel 24:24 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams

1 Chronicles 21:18-26

New International Version

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor^(A) of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁹So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord.

²⁰While Araunah was threshing wheat,^(B) he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves. ²¹Then David approached, and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.

²²David said to him, “Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.”

²³Araunah said to David, “Take it! Let my lord the king do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.”

²⁴But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

²⁵So David paid Araunah six hundred shekels^[a] of gold for the site. ²⁶David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire^(C) from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.