Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 21:20
Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ornan is threshing wheat when he turns and sees the angel, occurring as David approaches the site Gad directed him to build an altar (1 Chronicles 21:19).
The words — וַיָּשָׁב (va-yāšōḇ) means "he turned," and וַיַּרְא (va-yar') means "he saw," describing Ornan’s sudden physical shift toward the divine messenger.
The thread — The angel’s sudden appearance parallels the divine messenger’s arrival in Judges 6:11 and marks the turning point in David’s crisis narrative.
Why it lands — The text records Ornan’s physical reaction and his sons’ concealment without explaining the angel’s purpose, leaving the reader to observe human fear in the presence of the divine.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
Cross-references
- Judges 6:11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.