1 Chronicles 21:14-27

14So the Lord caused a very bad disease to kill people in Israel. 70,000 Israelite men died.

15God sent his angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel started to kill people, the Lord saw what was happening. He decided to stop the punishment that he was causing. He said to the angel who was killing the people, ‘That is enough. Stop what you are doing!’ When the Lord said that, his angel was standing near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

16David looked up and he saw the Lord's angel. The angel was standing between the earth and the sky. He had his sword in his hand and it was pointing towards Jerusalem. David and the leaders fell down with their faces towards the ground. They were wearing clothes that were made of rough sackcloth.

17David said to God, ‘I am the person who has done an evil thing. I told Joab to count the number of men in my army. These people have followed me like sheep that follow a shepherd. They have not done anything wrong. Lord my God, you should only punish me and my family. But please take this disease away from your people.’

18Then the angel of the Lord said to Gad, ‘Tell David to go up to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Build an altar there to worship the Lord.’

19So David obeyed the Lord's message that Gad had spoken to him.

20Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat. Araunah turned around and he saw the Lord's angel. His sons hid themselves.

21Then David came to meet Araunah. When Araunah saw David, he came out from the threshing floor. He bent down low in front of David, with his face towards the ground.

22David said to Araunah, ‘Let me buy this threshing floor from you. I want to build an altar here to worship the Lord. Then he will stop this bad disease from killing the people. I will pay you the whole price for the land.’

23Araunah replied, ‘My lord the king, please take it for yourself. You may do what you would like to do. Look, I will give you the bulls for the burnt offerings. You can use the wood from these tools for the fire. Take my wheat to make an offering to the Lord. I will give all these things to you.’

24But King David said to Araunah, ‘No, I must pay you the whole price. I cannot offer something that belongs to you as a sacrifice to the Lord. I cannot offer to him a burnt offering that has cost me nothing.’

25So David paid Araunah 600 gold coins to buy the place.

26Then he built an altar there to worship the Lord. He offered burnt offerings and friendship offerings on it. He prayed to the Lord and the Lord answered him. The Lord sent fire from the sky to burn up the sacrifice on the altar.

27Then the Lord told the angel to put his sword away into its pocket.