2 Samuel 24:18-25

Living Bible

¹⁸ That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went to do what the Lord had commanded him. ²⁰ When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came forward and fell flat on the ground with his face in the dust.

²¹ “Why have you come?” Araunah asked.

And David replied, “To buy your threshing floor, so that I can build an altar to the Lord, and he will stop the plague.”

²² “Use anything you like,” Araunah told the king. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing instruments and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. ²³ I will give it all to you, and may the Lord God accept your sacrifice.”

²⁴ But the king said to Araunah, “No, I will not have it as a gift. I will buy it, for I don’t want to offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that have cost me nothing.”

So David paid him^[a] for the threshing floor and the oxen. ²⁵ And David built an altar there to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer, and the plague was stopped.