2 Samuel 24:18-25

David Builds an Altar

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, "Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of ¹Araunah the Jebusite."

19 So David went up at Gad's word, as the LORD commanded.

20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.

21 And Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague ²may be averted from the people."

22 Then Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the ³threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God ⁴accept you."

24 But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels^[a] of silver.

25 And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ⁵So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

2 Samuel 24:18-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, 2Sa 24:1-9; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, 2Sa 24:10-13; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, 2Sa 24:14-17; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, 2Sa 24:18-25.

Cross References

• 1. [2 Chronicles 3:1]
• 2. Numbers 16:48, 50
• 3. 1 Kings 19:21
• 4. Deuteronomy 33:11; [Psalms 20:3]
• 5. 2 Samuel 21:14

Footnotes

• [a]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams