Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 21:26
And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David acts at the purchased threshing floor immediately after paying Ornan to halt the plague. He constructs a physical altar and performs sacrifices while the divine messenger remains present.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיִּבֶן (va-yiven) literally means "he built," describing David's construction of the מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach) or altar. The verb וַיַּעַל (va-ya'al) means "he offered up," referring specifically to the עֹלוֹת (olot) burnt offerings.
The thread — This pattern of altar construction followed by divine fire response appears in Leviticus 9:24, Judges 6:21, and 1 Kings 18:38. Each instance marks a moment where worship triggers direct heavenly intervention.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that worship precedes divine response rather than manipulating it. It requires the reader to acknowledge that obedience in establishing a place of sacrifice is the necessary condition for encountering God's presence.
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 David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 9:24 Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
- Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.
- 1 Kings 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench.
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Exodus 20:24 You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
- Exodus 24:4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
- Judges 13:20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.
- 1 Samuel 7:8 and said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
- 1 Kings 18:24 Then you may call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people answered, “What you say is good.”
- 2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.