Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:21
“Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” Araunah said. “To buy your threshing floor,” David replied, “that I may build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Araunah addresses King David as the king and his servants approach the threshing floor. David responds to Araunah’s question about the king’s purpose. The words — The Hebrew מַדּ֛וּעַ (ma.Du.a') asks "why?" regarding the king's arrival, while אֲדֹנִֽ/י־ הַ/מֶּ֖לֶךְ ('a.do.n/i- ha./Me.lekh) identifies David as "my lord the king." The thread — The exchange over purchasing land for worship connects to Genesis 23:8, where negotiation for burial ground occurs, though Numbers 16:44 and 25:8 are listed as cross-references in the source material. Why it lands — The text states David’s direct request to buy the threshing floor to halt the plague, requiring a reader to recognize that access to God demands a purchased, consecrated space rather than casual appropriation.
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 Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
Cross-references
- Genesis 23:8 “If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
- Numbers 16:44 and the LORD said to Moses,
- Numbers 25:8 followed the Israelite into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted,
- 2 Samuel 21:3 So David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How can I make amends so that you may bless the inheritance of the LORD?”
- 2 Samuel 24:3 But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”
- 2 Samuel 24:18 And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
- 1 Chronicles 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”
- Psalms 106:30 But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained.
- Jeremiah 32:6 Jeremiah replied, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying: