David said to God, Isn't it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.
So 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 there in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite ( 1 Chronicles 21:18 ).