⁴¹ But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” ⁴² As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the Lord appeared.

⁴³ Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, ⁴⁴ and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!” But Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground.

⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take an incense burner and place burning coals on it from the altar. Lay incense on it, and carry it out among the people to purify them and make them right with the Lord.^[a] The Lord’s anger is blazing against them—the plague has already begun.”

⁴⁷ Aaron did as Moses told him and ran out among the people. The plague had already begun to strike down the people, but Aaron burned the incense and purified^[b] the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died in that plague, in addition to those who had died in the affair involving Korah. ⁵⁰ Then because the plague had stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days.^[a] A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. ¹⁶ But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷ When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

¹⁹ So David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him. ²⁰ When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹ “Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked.

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

²² “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. ²³ I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.”

²⁴ But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver^[b] for the threshing floor and the oxen.

²⁵ David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.