Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:25
And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers on behalf of the land, and the plague upon Israel was halted.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David stands at the threshing floor he just purchased from Araunah, concluding a transaction where he refused to offer sacrifices that cost him nothing. He completes the purchase by constructing a worship site and presenting offerings to halt a plague striking Israel.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיִּבֶן (va-yi-vén) records David’s physical construction of the altar, while וַיַּעַל (va-ya-'al) specifies the action of offering up the burnt and peace sacrifices.
The thread — This sequence of altar-building and plague cessation parallels Noah’s post-flood sacrifice in Genesis 8:20 and Samuel’s altar work in 1 Samuel 7:17. It follows the burial of Saul’s bones in 2 Samuel 21:14, marking a structural shift from national judgment to divine intervention.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh answered prayers for the land and halted the plague immediately after David’s worship. It requires the reader to acknowledge that the cessation of judgment was tied to a costly, personally paid obedience rather than a convenient or borrowed ritual.
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. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 21:14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in Zela in the land of Benjamin, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. After they had done everything the king had commanded, God answered their prayers for the land.
- Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
- 1 Samuel 7:17 Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.
- 2 Samuel 24:14 David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”
- Lamentations 3:32 Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.
- Genesis 22:9 When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.
- 1 Samuel 7:9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.
- 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.