13. David said to Gad, “I am in trouble. I don’t want some man to punish me. The Lord is very merciful. So let the Lord punish me.”
14. So the Lord sent a terrible disease on Israel, and 70,000 people died.
15. God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But when the angel started to destroy it, the Lord saw it and felt sorry. So he said to the angel who was destroying, “That is enough! Stop!” The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
16. David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord in the sky. The angel was holding his sword over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders bowed facedown on the ground. They were wearing rough cloth to show their sadness.
17. David said to God, “I am the one who sinned. I gave the order for the people to be counted. I have done wrong. These people are only sheep. What wrong have they done? Lord my God, punish me and my family. But stop the terrible disease that is killing your people.”
18. Then the angel of the Lord gave an order to Gad. He told Gad to tell David to build an altar to worship the Lord. It was to be at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19. Gad told David these things from the Lord. So David went to Araunah’s threshing floor.
20. Araunah was separating the straw from the wheat. When he turned around, he saw the angel. Araunah’s four sons who were with him hid.
21. David went to Araunah. When Araunah saw David, he left the threshing floor. He bowed facedown on the ground before David.
22. David said to him, “Sell me your threshing floor. Then I can build an altar to worship the Lord here. Then the terrible disease will be stopped. Sell it to me for the full price.”
23. Araunah said to David, “Take this threshing floor. You are my master the king. Do anything you want. Look, I will also give you oxen for the burnt offering. I will give you boards as wood for the fire. And I will give the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this to you.”
24. But King David answered Araunah, “No, I must pay the full price. I won’t take anything that is yours and give it to the Lord. I won’t give an offering that costs me nothing.”
25. So David paid Araunah about 15 pounds of gold for the place.
26. David built an altar to worship the Lord there. He offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. David prayed to the Lord. And the Lord answered him by sending down fire from heaven. It came down on the altar of burnt offering.
27. Then the Lord commanded the angel to put his sword back into its holder.
28. David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah. So he offered sacrifices to the Lord there.