2 Samuel 24:17

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15 So ^athe Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died.

16 ^aAnd when the¹ angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, ^bthe Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of² Araunah the Jebusite.

17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely ^aI have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

The Altar on the Threshing Floor

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, ^a“Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” ^aAnd David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that ^bthe plague may be withdrawn from the people.”

22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. ^aLook, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God ^aaccept you.”

24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So ^aDavid bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^aSo the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and ^bthe plague was withdrawn from Israel.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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2 Samuel 24:17

But these sheep , what have they done ? - It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in their regal capacity, but by afflictions on their land, in which the people must necessarily suffer. If the king, therefore, by his own personal offenses, in which the people can have no part, bring down God' s judgments upon his people, (though they suffer innocently), grievous will be the account that he must give to God. The people generally suffer for the miscarriages of their governors: this has been observed in every age.

Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi .

- "When doting monarchs urge

Unsound resolves, their subjects feel the scourge."

Hor. Ep. lib. i., ep. 2, ver. 14.

Against my father ' s house - That is, against his own family; even to cut it off from the face of the earth.

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing 2 Samuel 24:17:**

2 Samuel 24:16
Psalms 30:8

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