16. David saw the Lord's angel in the air, holding a sword over Jerusalem. He and the leaders of Israel, who were all wearing sackcloth, bowed with their faces to the ground,
17. and David prayed, “It's my fault! I sinned by ordering the people to be counted. They have done nothing wrong—they are innocent sheep. Lord God, please punish me and my family. Don't let the disease wipe out your people.”
18. The Lord's angel told the prophet Gad to tell David that he must go to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar in honour of the Lord.
19. David followed the Lord's instructions.
20. Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat at the time, and when they saw the angel, the four sons ran to hide.
21. Just then, David arrived, and when Araunah saw him, he stopped his work and bowed down.
22. David said, “Would you sell me your threshing place, so I can build an altar on it to the Lord? Then this disease will stop killing the people. I'm willing to pay whatever you say it's worth.”
23. Araunah answered, “Take it, Your Majesty, and do whatever you want with it. I'll even give you the oxen for the sacrifice and the wheat for the grain sacrifice. And you can use the threshing boards for the fire. It's all yours!”
24. But David replied, “No! I want to pay you what they're worth. I can't just take something from you and then offer the Lord a sacrifice that cost me nothing.”
25. So David paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for his threshing place.
26. David built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the Lord and sacrifices to ask his blessing. David prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire down on the altar.
27. Then the Lord commanded the angel to put the sword away.
28. When David saw that the Lord had answered his prayer, he offered more sacrifices there at the threshing place,
29-30. because he was afraid of the angel's sword and did not want to go all the way to Gibeon. That's where the sacred tent that Moses had made in the desert was kept, as well as the altar where sacrifices were offered to the Lord.