21:15 God sent an angel 6 to ravage 7 Jerusalem. As he was doing so, 8 the Lord watched 9 and relented from 10 his judgment. 11 He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough! 12 Stop now!” 13
Now the Lord’s angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan 14 the Jebusite. 21:16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground. 15 21:17 David said to God, “Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed! 16 As for these sheep – what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family, 17 but remove the plague from your people!” 18
21:18 So the Lord’s messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build 19 an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 21:19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of the Lord. 20 21:20 While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves. 21:21 When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face 21 to the ground. 21:22 David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor 22 so I can build 23 on it an altar for the Lord – I’ll pay top price 24 – so that the plague may be removed 25 from the people.” 21:23 Ornan told David, “You can have it! 26 My master, the king, may do what he wants. 27 Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you.” 21:24 King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price. 28 I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice 29 that cost me nothing. 30 21:25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold. 31 21:26 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. 32 He called out to the Lord, and the Lord 33 responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar. 21:27 The Lord ordered the messenger 34 to put his sword back into its sheath.
21:28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord responded to him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 21:29 Now the Lord’s tabernacle (which Moses had made in the wilderness) and the altar for burnt sacrifices were at that time at the worship center 35 in Gibeon. 21:30 But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the Lord’s messenger.