²⁰And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons that were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
20. hid themselves] in fear, lest they too should see the angel of Jehovah and their lives be thereby imperilled, compare Judges vi. 22, xiii. 22.
²¹And as 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.
21. was threshing wheat] By driving oxen over it; compare verse 23.
²²Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the Lord: for the full price shalt thou give it me: that the plague may be stayed from the people.
22. the place of this threshing-floor] The expression implies perhaps that David bought more than the mere area of the threshing-floor.
for the full price] Genesis xxiii. 9 (Revised Version).
²³And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering; I give it all. ²⁴And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer a burnt offering without cost.
23. the meal offering] Compare Leviticus ii. 1–16.
²⁵So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.