when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy
it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that
destroyed the people, "It is enough; now stay thine hand."

And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the
Jebusite. And David spoke unto the Lord when he saw the angel that
smote the people, and said, "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done
perversely: but these sheep, my people, what have they done? let thine
hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house."

{442}

And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, "Go up, rear an
altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as the Lord
commanded. And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants
coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before
the king with his face to the ground.

And Araunah said, "Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?"

And David said, "To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar
unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people."

And Araunah said unto David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up
what seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt offering,
and the threshing instruments and the furniture of the oxen for the
wood: all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king."

And Araunah said unto the king, "The Lord thy God accept thee."

And the king said unto Araunah, "Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee
at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God
which cost me nothing."

So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of
silver.

And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land,
and the plague was stayed from Israel.

{443}

THE REBELLION OF ABSALOM.

_How an Evil Son Met His Fate in the Branches of an Oak_.

(David had much trouble and many wars during his reign, but the
rebellion of his own son Absalom brought more grief to him than
anything else. For a time the rebellion was successful, and David was
driven from his own palace. Then the tide turned and Absalom was
defeated and slain in a great battle. The strange way in which Absalom
met his death, and how David mourned for his son, are told in the
following story.)

And David numbered the people that were with him, and se