1 Chronicles 21:16-18

New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁶ Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, ^(A)covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. ¹⁷ David said to God, “Is it not I who ^[a]commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, ^(B)but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”

David’s Altar

^18 (C)Then the angel of the Lord ^[b]commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.