1 Chronicles 21:20-25

21:20 While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves. 21:21 When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face¹ to the ground. 21:22 David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor² so I can build³ on it an altar for the Lord – I’ll pay top price⁴ – so that the plague may be removed⁵ from the people.” 21:23 Ornan told David, “You can have it!⁶ My master, the king, may do what he wants.⁷ Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you.” 21:24 King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price.⁸ I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice⁹ that cost me nothing.¹⁰ 21:25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold.¹¹

¹tn Heb “nostrils.”

¹tn Heb “the place of the threshing floor.”

²tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive here indicates the immediate purpose/result: “so I can build.”

³tn Heb “For full silver sell to me.”

⁴tn Following the imperative and first person prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive, this third person prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive introduces the ultimate purpose/result: “so the plague may be removed.” Another option is subordinate this form to the preceding imperative, but the latter may be taken as a parenthetical expansion of the initial request.

¹tn Heb “take for yourself.”

²tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

¹tn Heb “No, for buying I will buy for full silver.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

²tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:24 has the plural “burnt sacrifices.”

³tn Or “without [paying] compensation.”

¹tc The parallel text of 2 Sam 24:24 says David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for “fifty pieces of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.