2 Samuel 24:18-25

International Children’s Bible

¹⁸ That day Gad came to David. Gad told him, “Go and build an altar to the Lord. Build it on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David did what Gad told him to do. He obeyed the Lord’s command and went to see Araunah.

²⁰ Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming to him. So he went out and bowed facedown on the ground. ²¹ He said, “Why has my master the king come to me?”

David answered, “To buy the threshing floor from you. I want to build an altar to the Lord. Then the disease will stop.”

²² Araunah said to David, “My master and king, you may take anything you want for a sacrifice. Here are some oxen for the whole burnt offering. Here are the threshing boards and the yokes for the wood! ²³ My king, I give everything to you!” Araunah also said to the king, “May the Lord your God be pleased with you!”

²⁴ But the king answered Araunah, “No. I will pay you for the land. I won’t offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings which cost me nothing!”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for one and one-fourth pounds of silver. ²⁵ Then he built an altar to the Lord there. And he offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer for the country. And the disease in Israel stopped.