2 Samuel 24:20
ESV
And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.
NIV
When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
NASB
And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.
CSB
Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.
NLT
When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.
KJV
And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
NKJV
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.
What does 2 Samuel 24:20 mean?
As judgment against David for taking a census of Israel's fighting men, God sent a supernatural plague through an angel. The angel has already killed many thousands of people, but God tells him to stop on the hill above Jerusalem (2 Samuel 24:1, 15–16).Araunah, also called Ornan (1 Chronicles 21:18), owns a threshing floor on the summit. There, typical winds are strong enough to blow away inedible husks—the "chaff"—but not so strong as to take the kernels with it. Araunah is a Jebusite: a Canaanite native of "Jebus." Jebus was the name given to Jerusalem before David conquered it and took it as his capital. Araunah and his sons see the angel, and his sons hide in fear (1 Chronicles 21:20).
When David and the elders in the city below see the angel hovering over the mountaintop, they dress in sackcloth and lament. David asks God to finish His wrath on him and his family, not the people of Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 21:16–17). The angel sends Gad the seer to tell David to sacrifice on the hill where He has stopped (2 Samuel 24:18; 1 Chronicles 21:18).
As David and the elders climb the hill, Araunah sees them and lays face-down. Caught between an angel bringing pestilence and the king, Araunah asks the king what he wants. David says he needs the threshing floor to build an altar so the plague will pass from the people (2 Samuel 24:21).
Araunah agrees to sell the land and offers to donate his oxen, yoke, and wheat. David refuses to let someone else pay for his sacrifice, and buys the threshing floor, the oxen and yoke, and the larger parcel of land. With David's sacrifice, God stops the plague (2 Samuel 24:22–25; 1 Chronicles 21:23).
