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.

1 CHRONICLES 21:18KJV
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1 Chronicles 21:18 (KJV)

What does 1 Chronicles 21:18 mean?

1 Chronicles 21:18 gives David a specific instruction in the midst of a deadly judgment: he is to build an altar to the LORD at Ornan’s threshing floor. The direction comes through the angel of the LORD and Gad, so the location is presented as part of the instruction, not simply David’s choice.

David had just seen the angel near Ornan’s threshing floor (verse 16). A threshing floor was a place where harvested grain was separated from its stalks. The verse directs David to use that working place as the site of an altar.

The Hebrew behind 1 Chronicles 21:18

  • “angel” — מַלְאָךְ (malʾakh): The word means “messenger.” Here it describes the LORD’s messenger, who passes the instruction to Gad.
  • “threshingfloor” — גֹּרֶן (goren): This means a place where grain is threshed. It identifies a recognizable work site belonging to Ornan, rather than a site already described as an altar.

Why 1 Chronicles 21:18 matters

  • The message reaches David through a clear chain of speakers: the angel tells Gad what to say, and Gad delivers the instruction. Verse 19 shows David going up in response.
  • The altar is connected to the end of the disaster in the surrounding account. After David builds it and offers sacrifices, the LORD answers with fire and tells the angel to put away his sword (verses 26–27).
  • Ornan’s threshing floor becomes important beyond this moment. Later, Solomon identifies the site as the place where the house of the LORD is to be built (2 Chronicles 3:1).

Where else these words appear

“Ornan” Hebrew H771 · used in 10 verses

  • 1 Chronicles 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
  • 1 Chronicles 21:22 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.
  • 1 Chronicles 21:25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

“threshingfloor” Hebrew H1637 · used in 36 verses

  • Genesis 50:10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
  • Ruth 3:14 And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor.
  • 1 Chronicles 21:22 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.

“Jebusite” Hebrew H2983 · used in 39 verses

  • Genesis 10:16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
  • Joshua 9:1 And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof;
  • 2 Samuel 24:16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

“Gad” Hebrew H1410 · used in 67 verses

  • Genesis 30:11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.
  • Deuteronomy 27:13 And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
  • 1 Samuel 22:5 And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.