¹⁸ The Lord’s messenger ordered Gad to tell David that he should go up to the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite in order to set up an altar for the Lord. ¹⁹ So David went up, following the instructions Gad had delivered in the Lord’s name.

²⁰ Ornan turned around and saw the king.^[a] His four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. ²¹ When David approached Ornan, Ornan looked up, recognized David, left the threshing floor, and bowed to David with his face to the ground. ²² David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor, charging me full price, so that I may build an altar to the Lord, and the plague among the people may come to an end.”

²³ Ornan replied to David, “Take it for yourself, and may my master the king do what he thinks is best. I’ll even provide the oxen for the entirely burned offerings, the threshing boards for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I’ll provide everything!”

²⁴ But King David said to Ornan, “No, I will buy them from you at a fair price. I won’t offer to the Lord what belongs to you nor offer an entirely burned offering that costs me nothing.” ²⁵ Then David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the site. ²⁶ David built an altar there for the Lord and offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices. He called on the Lord, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of the entirely burned offering, consuming the entirely burned offering.^{[b] 27} Then the Lord commanded the messenger to return his sword to its sheath.