Text -- 2 Samuel 24:23-25 (NET)

24:23 I, the servant of my lord the king, give it all to the king!” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God show you favor!” 24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. 24:25 Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:23

¹ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation reads עֶבֶד אֲדֹנָי (’eved ’adoni, “the servant of my lord”) rather than the MT’s אֲרַוְנָה (’Aravnah). In normal court etiquette a subject would not use his own name in this way, but would more likely refer to himself in the third person. The MT probably first sustained loss of עֶבֶד (’eved, “servant”), leading to confusion of the word for “my lord” with the name of the Jebusite referred to here.

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:24

¹ tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.