And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was about to destroy, the LORD beheld and had compassion on the wretchedness, and said to the angel that destroyed, "It is enough, now cease thine hand." And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and heaven with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out toward Jerusalem. Then fell David and the elders of Israel, clothed in sack, upon their faces. And David said unto God, "Is it not I that commanded to number the people? And I am he that have sinned and done evil in deed. But what have these sheep done? Let thine hand therefore O LORD God be on me and on my father's house, and not on thy people to destroy them."
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And the Angel commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go and rear up an altar unto the LORD, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went at the saying of Gad which spake in the name of the LORD. And Ornan turned about and saw the Angel, and his four sons with him, and hid themselves: for Oman was threshing wheat. And David came to Ornan. And when Ornan looked and saw David, he went out of the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. And David said to Ornan, "Give me the place of the threshing floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD. Let me have it for as much money as it is worth, that the plague may cease from the people." And Ornan said to David, "Take it to thee, and let my lord king do that seemeth good in his eyes. See, I give thee oxen for a burnt sacrifice, and the threshing sleds for wood, and wheat for meat offering: I give it all." But king David said to Ornan, "Not so, but I will buy it for as much money as it is worth. I will not take that which is thine, for the LORD, and offer burnt offering without cost." And so David gave to Ornan for the place sicles of gold, six hundred by weight.
And when the Angel stretched out his hand unto Jerusalem to have destroyed it, the LORD had compassion to do that evil, and said to the Angel that destroyed the people, "It is sufficient: let thine hand cease." And the Angel was at the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite. Then spake David unto the LORD when he saw the Angel that smote the people, and said, "Lo, it is I that have sinned, and I that have done wickedly. But these sheep what have they done? Let I pray thee thine hand be on me and on my father's house." And Gad came the same day to David and said unto him, "Go up and rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
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And David according to the saying of Gad went up as the LORD commanded. And when Araunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, he went out: and bowed himself to the king flat on his face to the ground, and said, "Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor of thee, for to make an altar unto the LORD that the plague may cease from the people." And Araunah said unto the king, "Let my lord the king take and offer what seemeth him good in his eyes: Behold, oxen for sacrifice, and sleds and the other instruments of the oxen for wood." And Araunah the king's friend gave all to the king, and said moreover unto the king, "The LORD thy God accept thee." But the king said unto Araunah, "Not so, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and will not offer sacrifice unto the LORD my God that shall cost me nought." And so David bought the threshing floor, and the oxen for fifty sicles of silver.
And Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, which was showed David his father when he prepared a place in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And David said, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this the burnt offering altar for Israel."
At that time, when David saw that the LORD had heard him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he used to offer there. For the tabernacle of the LORD which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were that season in the hill at Gibeon. And David could not go before it to seek God, because he was afraid of the sword of the Angel of the LORD.
Unselfishness » Instances of » Araunah
And Araunah said unto the king, "Let my lord the king take and offer what seemeth him good in his eyes: Behold, oxen for sacrifice, and sleds and the other instruments of the oxen for wood." And Araunah the king's friend gave all to the king, and said moreover unto the king, "The LORD thy God accept thee." But the king said unto Araunah, "Not so, but I will buy it of thee at a price, and will not offer sacrifice unto the LORD my God that shall cost me nought." And so David bought the threshing floor, and the oxen for fifty sicles of silver.