1 Chronicles Chapter 21 — David's Census and the Altar
King David conducts a census of Israel against Joab's advice, leading to a divine plague and the eventual purchase of Ornan's threshing floor for an altar.
1Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.
2David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know how many there are.”
3Joab said, “May the LORD make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?”
4Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, then came to Jerusalem.
5Joab gave the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword.
6But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
7God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.
8David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
9The LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10“Go and speak to David, saying, ‘The LORD says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
11So Gad came to David and said to him, “The LORD says, ‘Take your choice:
12either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the LORD’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’ ”
13David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the LORD’s hand, for his mercies are very great. Don’t let me fall into man’s hand.”
14So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
15God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, the LORD saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” the LORD’s angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16David lifted up his eyes, and saw the LORD’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.
17David said to God, “Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be counted? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.”
18Then the LORD’s angel commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up and raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the LORD’s name.
20Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
21As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
22Then David said to Ornan, “Sell me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD on it. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”
23Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all.”
24King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”
25So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels*A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.32 Troy ounces, so 600 shekels was about 6 kilograms or about 192 Troy ounces. of gold by weight for the place.
26David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
27Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
28At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.
29For the LORD’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
30But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the LORD’s angel.
WEB Translation
Notable Verses
1 Chronicles 21:13
“David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the LORD’s hand, for his mercies are very great. Don’t let me fall into man’s hand.””
This verse highlights David's profound trust in God's character even when facing divine discipline.
1 Chronicles 21:24
“King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.””
This demonstrates the principle that true worship and sacrifice should involve personal cost and sincere devotion.
Chapter Summary
1 Chronicles 21 recounts King David's decision to conduct a census of Israel, an act that displeases God. Despite Joab's warnings, the census proceeds, revealing over one million fighting men. In response to David's sin, God offers him three choices of punishment through the prophet Gad: three years of famine, three months of defeat by enemies, or three days of pestilence. David chooses to fall into the Lord's hand, citing His great mercy. A plague strikes Israel, killing seventy thousand men. As the destroying angel reaches Jerusalem, David intercedes, begging for the people to be spared. At the instruction of an angel, David purchases the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite to build an altar. David insists on paying the full price for the land and offerings, refusing to offer to God something that cost him nothing. God answers with fire from heaven, and the plague is stayed, marking the site for future worship.
Frequently Asked Questions
The text states that Satan incited David to take the census, which displeased God. It is generally understood that the census reflected a reliance on military strength rather than trusting in God's protection.
Through the prophet Gad, God offered David three years of famine, three months of fleeing from enemies, or three days of a plague sent by the angel of the Lord.
Ornan was a man who owned a threshing floor in Jerusalem. David purchased this land from him to build an altar to stop the plague, and it later became the site of the Temple.
The text records that seventy thousand men of Israel died as a result of the pestilence before God relented and commanded the angel to stop.
Study Note
The site of Ornan's threshing floor, purchased by David in this chapter, is historically identified as Mount Moriah, where Abraham was tested with Isaac.
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