15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he trelented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the uangel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and vin his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”
David Builds an Altar
18 wNow the angel of the Lord had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the xthreshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David 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 may be uaverted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. vHere are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing 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 accept 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 shekels1 of silver.
25 So David paid Ornan 600 shekels1 of gold by weight for the site. 26 And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord2 answered him with afire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 bFor the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at cGibeon, 30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O My Soul
Of David.
1 tBless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who uforgives all your iniquity,
who vheals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who wcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who xsatisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed ylike the eagle’s.
6 The Lord works righteousness
and zjustice for all who are oppressed.
7 He amade known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is bmerciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 cHe will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For das high eas the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 fAs a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;1
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the isteadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has established his jthrone in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his kministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the Lord, lall his works,
in all places of his dominion.
mBless the Lord, O my soul!
