Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Chronicles 21:23 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 23. 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 also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence: “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Ornan's floor is purchased and the sword is sheathed.”
Read It With
- 1 Chronicles 21:18–27
Read 1 Chronicles 21:23 with 21:18–27. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the relationships and outcome summarized here: Gad directs David to build an altar, Ornan and sons encounter the scene, David insists on full payment, offerings receive heavenly fire, and the angel sheathes the sword.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Ornan's floor is purchased and the sword is sheathed,” 1 Chronicles 21:23 advances the thought unit through its next name, action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The commanded altar, full-price purchase, sacrifice, answer, and sheathed sword respond to census harm without erasing the seventy thousand dead or harmonizing Samuel's different price.
Read 1 Chronicles 21:18–27 together
Why these verses belong together: 1 Chronicles 21:18–27 forms the complete movement “Ornan's floor is purchased and the sword is sheathed”: Gad directs David to build an altar, Ornan and sons encounter the scene, David insists on full payment, offerings receive heavenly fire, and the angel sheathes the sword.
Verse 18. 18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Verse 19. 19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.
Verse 20. 20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
Verse 21. 21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
Verse 22. 22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.
Verse 23. 23 And 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 also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.
Verse 24. 24 And 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 burnt offerings without cost.
Verse 25. 25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
Verse 26. 26 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.
Verse 27. 27 And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.
Follow the Context
- Gad directs David to build an altar, Ornan and sons encounter the scene, David insists on full payment, offerings receive heavenly fire, and the angel sheathes the sword.
- Costly, nonconfiscatory purchase and answered worship transform the plague site into the foundation of temple preparation.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
1 Chronicles 21:23 does not permit the wording “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The purchase does not erase coercive royal power, harmonize 600 gold shekels with Samuel's 50 silver, authorize modern land claims, or make payment repair every loss.
What Remains True
Worship requires ordered, truthful, skilled, and accountable service, while sacred office, beauty, or scale never determines a person's worth. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Gad directs David to build an altar, Ornan and sons encounter the scene, David insists on full payment, offerings receive heavenly fire, and the angel sheathes the sword. In 1 Chronicles 21:23, the concrete line “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which….” In shared worship or institutional service, name every role, protect workers, use transparent assignments and finances, and refuse status systems that make inherited office equal superior worth. This response follows from the unit's own movement: Gad directs David to build an altar, Ornan and sons encounter the scene, David insists on full payment, offerings receive heavenly fire, and the angel sheathes the sword.
Teach It Back
Explain why 1 Chronicles 21:23 offers David the site, oxen, tools, and wheat without payment. Use 21:18–27, paraphrase “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which…,” state one source or reconstruction limit, identify one person or group power can obscure, and reject one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Chronicles 21:18–27 — Ornan's floor is purchased and the sword is sheathedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Samuel and Chronicles differ on owner name, property scope, price, speech, fire, and angel details; proposals about a larger site purchase are possible but cannot be asserted as fact.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 1 Chronicles 21:18–27, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Chronicles
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clauses, regnal formulas, temple vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Chr.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 21:18–27
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Full Notes: 1 Chronicles
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; STEP Bible presentation, 2019 edition; current web presentation
Supports: Unit-bounded translation comparisons and only those lexical, textual, grammatical, numerical, historical, and parallel-passage notes attached to these verses.
Exact location: STEP Bible NET2full, 1 Chronicles 21:18–27, verse-attached translation and translator notes
Open source ↗