David Erects an Altar

¹⁸ So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “^(A)Go up, erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of ^[a]Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up according to the word of Gad, just as Yahweh had commanded. ²⁰ And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. ²¹ Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to Yahweh, ^(B)that the plague may be checked from being upon the people.” ²² And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, ^(C)the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³ Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God ^(D)accept you.” ²⁴ However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for ^(E)I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God ^[b]which cost me nothing.” So ^(F)David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty ^[c]shekels of silver. ²⁵ Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^(G)Thus Yahweh was moved by the entreaty for the land, and the plague was checked from being upon Israel.