📖WEB · 1 Chronicles 21:26
What does 1 Chronicles 21:26 mean?
"David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering."
— 1 Chronicles 21:26 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Ornan 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.”
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 Yahweh, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”
So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.
David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
Then Yahweh commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.
For Yahweh’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.
Explanation
This verse comes at the climax of a dramatic episode in David's reign. David had sinned by ordering a census of Israel—an act that seems to have reflected pride or a reliance on military strength rather than trust in God. As punishment, God sent a plague upon Israel that killed seventy thousand men. When David saw the angel of the Lord poised to destroy Jerusalem, he pleaded for mercy, and God commanded him, through the prophet Gad, to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David bought the site at full price, refusing to offer God something that cost him nothing, and there he built the altar described in this verse.
The original context is crucial: David is not offering sacrifices in the tabernacle at Gibeon, where the official altar stood, but on this newly purchased threshing floor in Jerusalem. This location would later become the site of Solomon's Temple, making this moment theologically significant as the founding point of Israel's permanent place of worship. The Chronicler, writing after the Babylonian exile to a community rebuilding its identity and worship life, includes this account to show the divine legitimacy of the Temple's location and to demonstrate that true worship involves costly obedience and genuine repentance.
Theologically, the verse shows God's acceptance of David's offering through a dramatic sign—fire falling from heaven to consume the sacrifice. This is a recurring bibl
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.